In their third spring training game of the year, the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals played to a 3-3 tie in Clover Park on Sunday.
Left-hander Steven Matz yielded one run in his one-inning Grapefruit League debut. It came on a leadoff home run by Cardinals outfielder Harrison Bader.
At that point, the southpaw settled in and retired the next three hitters he faced, one via the strikeout. Matz, 28, is currently battling to secure a rotation spot: newcomers Michael Wacha and Rick Porcello are his competitors. The loser will go to the bullpen.
“I recognize logistically what we have before us, which ultimately is a good problem to have,†Matz said after the game to MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. “For me personally, I’m going to just try to maximize my stuff the best I can … and just try to be the best I can, and make the most progress I can from last season right now.â€
The Mets’ lefty is trying to improve his 2019 numbers
Matz had a good, if unspectacular 2019 season. He registered a 4.21 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and 153/52 K/BB ratio over 160 1/3 innings last year. According to Fangraphs, he accrued 1.6 fWAR.
In the first inning of games, Matz posted a 6.21 ERA. The number went all the way down to 3.76 over the rest of his frames.
“Some days, you just feel like you don’t have it,†Matz said. “And so sometimes, you’ve got to just trust — trust that what you have, all the work you put in, all the preparation that you put in, that it’s going to be there, instead of, ‘I don’t feel like I have a good curveball today,’ so you shy away from it or whatever. You put in all these hours of work, just trust it, go out and execute. That mentality, I think translates well for me.â€
Wacha is slated to pitch tomorrow while Porcello did it on Saturday, while Porcello allowed one run on two hits on his inning of work against the Miami Marlins on Saturday.
The first home run of the New York Mets’ spring came on Sunday, courtesy of center fielder Jake Marisnick. It was a laser to left-center field against Adam Wainwright.
Marisnick, J.D. Davis and Ryan Cordell had RBI against the Cards on Sunday.