PORT ST. LUCIE — For a second time in as many spring training starts, Steven Matz allowed five runs. And on Sunday, he did it while recording just one out.
Afterward, manager Mickey Callaway called Matz’s performance “a bump in the road.”
At some point — and soon — that bump will look considerably more severe for the left-hander, who is coming off a disappointing season and has yet to fulfill the promise he showed following his initial call-up in 2015 and most of 2016.
“It’s frustrating,” Matz said of his outing, during which he gave up five runs on five hits and two walks in a 7-3 loss to the Nationals at First Data Field. “Even though it’s spring training, you want to see results.”
Matz wasn’t hit especially hard — a bloop single and a grounder through the right side of the infield resulted in three runs — but his lack of command was worrying.
Consistently behind batters, Matz has now walked four in just 1 ²/₃ innings this spring — in addition to giving up a whopping 10 runs (54.00 ERA).
Asked what Matz has been missing so far, Callaway pointed to “a little conviction.”
“I think the way he’s throwing the ball right now, he has a little doubt when he’s letting it go on where it’s gonna go [and] if they’re gonna hit it,” Callaway said. “That’s really all I see.”
So how does he find it?
“He probably needs some good results to happen so he can get that feel and conviction back,” Callaway said.
Sounds like the potential beginning of a vicious cycle.
Matz, while disappointed in how he’s pitched so far, believes he’s leaving pitches up, especially on two-strike counts and he’s been unable to put batters away.
Callaway insisted the team is confident he will right himself soon enough.
“He’s been working so hard and I know it’s frustrating for him, but we’re not worried,” Callaway said of the 26-year-old. “We just want him to continue to work. He’s got good stuff, he knows how to pitch and he’ll get to where he needs to be at some point.”
The Mets — and Matz — don’t have forever for that point to come. Their spring training schedule ends three weeks from Sunday and it’s not like Matz’s issues have come out of nowhere.
Matz went just 2-7 with a 6.08 ERA in 13 starts last season and has shown an inability to stay healthy.
He said Sunday he feels good and is encouraged by the work he has done between starts, but as pitching coach Dave Eiland noted when speaking Sunday about the promise of the entire rotation: “Talk is cheap. They’ve got to go out there and do it. They’ve got to live up to that potential and live up to that hype. … Go out there and show me what you can do and post every five days and we’ll see where it takes us.”
That’s especially true of Matz, who isn’t guaranteed a spot in the rotation.
Callaway said he didn’t have a number of bad starts in mind before he’d begin to worry, but he added: “It’s key for him to have some success in spring training going into the season. We’re not worried at this time. He’ll get through it.”