New York Mets starter, Steven Matz, came into his start with a renewed game plan after a rough start to his season. It worked for Matz through four innings, but everything came crashing down when a five-run fifth inning knocked him out of the game.
Clear those bases, @rhyshoskins! ? pic.twitter.com/yID94J0uLl
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 15, 2020
Matz took some velocity off his fastball in exchange for an increase in his accuracy. He sat around 91-93 with it and threw more changeups during his start. The only hit and run Matz allowed through the first four innings of the game came on a Jean Segura second-inning home run.
Matz ran into quick trouble during the fifth inning when two soft singles set the Phillies up with first and second with no one out. He walked Alec Bohm to load the bases and start to run away from his game plan from early in his outing. After getting Scott Kingery to lineout, he walked Andrew McCutchen to walk in a run. Rhys Hoskins blew the game open with a bases-clearing double followed by a Bryce Harper double, ended Matz’s night.
The outing inflated his ERA to 9.00 on the season, and his nine home runs are the most allowed by any pitcher this season. He tried to overthrow the ball once he got into trouble, and it ended up hurting him and brought his stats back to the norm in 2020 for Matz.
Nola Dominates
The Mets struggled all night with Aaron Nola as he shut them out for seven innings. When the Mets had early chances against him, he squashed them quickly. Nola retired the last 13 batters he faced and recorded eight strikeouts during his outing.
The only scoring from the Mets came from Dominic Smith. His two-run home run was his sixth of the season, and it leads the Mets. Smith’s hot start put into question how long Pete Alonso can continue to play every day. Through just over a third of the season, Alonso is only hitting .214, and his power is non-existent in the rare circumstance that he makes contact.
On Sunday, Rick Porcello tries to help the Mets prevent a sweep. He faces off against former Met Zack Wheeler at 1:05 p.m. ET from Citizens Bank Park.