It was another in a string of rough starts for the 27-year-old right-hander this season, and it was bad enough that the Mets asked him if he wanted to skip Tuesday night’s rematch with the Nationals in the nation’s capital so he could try to sort out whatever issues he’s dealing with right now.
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By the time the fourth inning rolled around, though, Harvey’s fastball was sitting around 93 miles per hour and his secondaries were flat – resulting in back-to-back home runs on two changeups that hung in the zone. So there’s a lot of things to consider. That’s why we’re not going to make any rash judgments tonight. “We’re going to sleep on it and talk about it (Wednesday)”. It was a bad game all around for folks near home plate: umpire Jeff Nelson left the game after some debris hit him in the eye during a play at home.
Harvey is 3-7 with a 6.08 ERA after allowing five runs in five innings to the Nationals on Tuesday. I guess the pessimist in me still thinks he has a ways to go because that ball is caught in CitiField.
A 13th inning was needed as the Houston Astros prevailed 3-2 against the Baltimore Orioles, the San Francisco Giants accounted for the San Diego Padres 8-2, the Los Angeles Dodgers were too good for the Cincinnati Reds 8-2, the Oakland Athletics went down 6-5 to the Seattle Mariners, the Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-1, the Philadelphia Phillies lost 3-1 against the Detroit Tigers, while the Milwaukee Brewers trumped the Atlanta Braves 2-1. The big guy turned 43 last night.
Strasburg is the third starter in franchise history to start 8-0.
“I saw Matt in the video room”, manager Dusty Baker said.
Jumping out to a 6-0 lead before the St. Louis got to the bat rack, Chicago became the first team to reach 30 wins.
Harvey walked two and struck out just one, in losing his third straight start.
Tomorrow comes fast, what with a matinee to close out the series, and Harvey’s problems are of the serious sort.
Is Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg an example of hope for Harvey?
They were quiet as Ben Revere led off the fifth with a double off the center-field wall and scored on Bryce Harper’s sacrifice fly. Asdrubal Cabrera homered and Eric Campbell hit a two-run shot in the ninth. The least he could’ve done was thank those Mets fans who made the trek down from Long Island and New York City to provide support for him.
Cain is the second Royal in as many nights to tie or surpass his career high in hits; Salvador Perez had five hits in Monday’s 10-4 victory. Murphy had his major league-leading 23rd multihit game of the season.
Other than Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman, who went 2 for 4 with an RBI, the Nationals weren’t swinging the bats well.
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Nationals: RHP Matt Belisle (calf strain) returned to Washington for the day after launching his rehabilitation assignment Monday with Class A Potomac.
