Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Good one David, maybe things can turn for the better. “And we needed it”.
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The New York Mets will stick with right-hander Matt Harvey in the rotation after debating alternatives, including a demotion to the minor leagues.
On Wednesday morning Harvey reported to Nationals Park for the series finale and immediately headed into manager Terry Collins’ office for a chat.
Matz may not have the nicknames like other members of the Mets rotation, but the youngster has delivered nothing but fantastic outings since his opening clunker. That’s because they not only have Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom serving as legit aces every five days, but also because Steven Matz has essentially stepped right into the position everyone expected Harvey to occupy.
Today’s Player of the Game Award goes to Mets’ starting pitcher Steven Matz.
Collins believes Harvey’s body has not recovered from pitching a career-high 216 innings in 2015, his first season back after 2013 Tommy John surgery.
The Mets gave Matz the lead before he even took the mound. Bottom of the 7th Bart gets first out on one pitch and goes 1-2-3 throwing his 90th pitch to end the frame.
Jackie Bradley Jr.: The streak lives on!
Jackie Bradley Jr. extended his career-high hitting streak to 28 games – tied with Wade Boggs for fifth-best in team history – while eammate Xander Bogaerts extended his to a career-high 17 in the win.
Adam Lind: This is how you know you’re having a good night.
Lind finished 4-for-4 with six RBIs. His night included a solo homer in the second and a three-run shot in the third. Miggy also doubled and scored a run on a Victor Martinez single. Two of the first three hits for the Nationals didn’t leave the infield.
OF Yoenis Cespedes entered Tuesday with 15 homers – the most in the majors – and three doubles and three homers in four games in Washington. Martin’s power outage has been somewhat startling considering he hit a career-best 23 last season, but maybe he’s finally turned the page.
Harvey’s next start for the Mets will come on Monday at home against the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox.
The Mariners trailed 5-2 after seven innings but got a two-run homer from Robinson Cano in the eighth inning. Peavy lowered his ERA to 7.26, but remains stuck on one win after taking a no-decision. Suzuki is 10 for 13 in the past three games. The Cubs, meanwhile, will be led by reigning National League (NL) Cy Young victor Jake Arrieta (8-0, 1.29 ERA) at the Cardinals. He had already chose to allow Matz to face Harper in this tense situation – up two runs with a runner on base – rather than call for Jerry Blevins – the team’s resident Harper-stopper.
Twins 7, Royals 5: Minnesota picks up win No. 12 on the strength of home runs from Eduardo Nunez, Brian Dozier and Miguel Sano.
Manager Dave Roberts, in his first season with the Dodgers, pulled Puig from the game to start the seventh inning during an 8-2 victory over the visiting Cincinnati Reds.
Pirates 5, Diamondbacks 4: After a contentious game on Tuesday, things settled down into a well-played game here.
Verlander has allowed only four runs over his past four starts.
Marlins 4, Rays 3: With the slumping Giancarlo Stanton sitting, Miami rode the hot bat of Marcell Ozuna to victory. Bryce Harper drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and the next batter, Murphy, lined a two-run homer to right off Harvey.
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Angels 2, Rangers 0: The Angels were supposed to be a carcass on the highway after losing 40% of their pitching staff to ligament injuries but they’ve won eight of 11 because, well, baseball. They are now 2-19 in their final season at Turner Field. The hard-luck loser was Tanner Roark (3-4), who gave up two runs (one earned) on five hits in seven innings before Oliver Perez took over in the eighth.
