The ball appeared to skip right over the bag, and first base umpire Carlos Torres quickly called it fair. Addison Reed finished the inning, and Gabriel Ynoa, though giving up a run, finished the game for the Mets.
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The Mets added three insurance runs in the eighth, when Jose Reyes scored on a wild pitch and rookie T.J. Rivera – another NY product playing for his hometown team – hit a two-run double for his first career RBIs.
Collins was wary of Matz’s pitch count after he threw a career-high 120 pitches in his last outing.
Collins said he began to think about Santana as he looked at Matz after the fifth inning Sunday.
Concerned this time about leaving his prized rookie in too long, Collins was given something of a reprieve when Alexei Ramirez slapped an opposite-field single just inside first base with one out in the eighth inning.
Collins wasn’t going to allow another 134-pitch day like Johan Santana did in his no-hitter, the Mets only no-hitter, but the manager wants length. He the clear star and leader of the NY pitching staff.
New York Mets’ Wilmer Flores greets teammates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016 in New York. Neil Walker’s 21st home run made it 2-0 in the fourth inning. “After his last start, after the game he told me one of the things he really needed was to get stretched out”. It means a lot to those guys who are sitting in Vegas because, make no mistake about it, they are looking at the box scores and when they see that they are expected to go deep in the game and throw 115-120 pitches a night, when they see that, when they see what these guys are doing, it catches on and it becomes something organizational wide. T.J. Rivera hit a 2 run double which turned out to be his first career RBI’s.
The win put the Mets back above.500 (59-58). They still have an opportunity to gain ground on the St. Louis Cardinals, who play tonight against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Padres leadoff man Travis Jankowski, who struggles against left-handed pitching, tried to bunt for a hit with a runner on first and two outs in the sixth. Matz was charged with a balk that moved him to second. Yangervis Solarte hit the lone RBI in the 9th for the Padres. Catcher Derek Norris’ throw went into center field, allowing Reyes to advance to third.
Matz opened the season 7-1 with a 2.36 ERA in his first eight starts. Their breadth of talented, young pitching is the reason expectations are high again this year and remain so even with Matt Harvey lost to season-ending surgery and Matz and Noah Syndergaard pitching with bone chips in their elbows that will require offseason procedures.
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Richard will be limited to about 75 pitches in his first major league start since August 2, 2015.
