Not in the minor leagues. The Mets have two straight wins for the first time since July 6 and 7. It took 8,020 games for the Mets to pitch their first no-hitter, and Steven Matz, the Long Island southpaw, was on the cusp of another. “I was going to let him start the ninth, depending on what the eighth inning looked like”, Collins said to Ryan Hatch.
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Facing the Padres for the first time, Matz (9-8) earned just his second victory in nine decisions over his past 14 starts. Ramirez’s ball, however, didn’t appear to be as close, and first-base umpire Carlos Torres was standing right over the line with a ideal view. Balls that bounce in the infield before crossing a base are not reviewable under baseball’s replay rules.
The Mets’ only no-hitter was thrown on June 1, 2012, by Johan Santana.
Santana, of course, got injured later that season and hasn’t made it back to the majors.
The team meeting New York Mets manager Terry Collins called following Thursday afternoon’s lopsided loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks had the desired effect in terms of the Mets’ effort, if not the on-field result, Friday night.
“I thought he was going to turn two”, Flores said. “If he walked a couple of guys and got up there pretty high, I wasn’t going to visit the Johan Santana scenario again, I can tell you that”.
“I was really anxious about. If (Sunday) doesn’t go well, we’ll have to ask him for the box score”. “And I looked up there and saw 65 or 70 and I said, ‘Crap”.
“Guess it was a coin flip”, NY second baseman Neil Walker said. “He just got to it”, deGrom said. That was it for Matz (9-8), one hit, eight strikeouts. He was consistently in the mid-90s with his sinking fastball and gave the light-hitting Padres fits with his curve.
Fellow rookie Jabari Blash and Christian Bethancourt also connected early for the Padres, who handed the defending NL champions their fourth straight defeat and sixth in seven games. “I have no complaints there”.
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. After the Mets got two on with two outs, rookie third baseman T.J. Rivera delivered the big blow, a two run double to blow the game open at 5-0. “But this is still a good team”. “We’re grinding away and this is what it’s all about”.
“The future is still here with [Jacob] deGrom, Matz, Syndergaard and a healthy Matt Harvey”.
Matz issued his first walk right out of the gate. He didn’t even challenge the play. Matz struck out former Yankee Yangervis Solarte to end the inning.
Padres: LHP Clayton Richard (0-1, 6.46 ERA) likely will be limited to about 75 pitches when he starts the series finale Sunday as San Diego goes to a six-man rotation during a stretch of 16 games between off days. Neil Walker made the game 2-0 with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth. He is 2-1 with a 1.62 ERA since the All-Star break.
Matz walked off the mound to a big ovation from the crowd of 26,612 at Citi Field. He swung at the first pitch and grounded to short. He began a rehab assignment with Class A St. Lucie this month but complained of elbow discomfort after throwing 17 pitches in one inning during a rain-shortened start. He is inching closer to pitching live batting practice.
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“Oh, yeah, I wasn’t disappointed at all”, Matz said. “We need to win as many as we can”. “That’s really what our focus is”.
