Surprisingly, the New York Mets have become the NL’s hottest team and Steven Matz will look to make it eight straight on Friday night.
Thirteen and five since the MLB All-Star break, the New York Mets have pulled to within two games of the .500 mark and are still alive in the NL Wild Card race at four games back.
Since falling to the San Diego Padres on July 24, the team has reeled off seven straight wins. Set to begin the latter half of a six-game road swing on Friday, the Mets will get a chance to pick up where they left off against a recent opponent.
New York took three straight from the Pittsburgh Pirates from July 26-28 at Citi Field. Friday, they open a three-game set at PNC Park.
Steven Matz (6-6, 4.32 ERA, 100 IP) will oppose RHP Trevor Williams (3-4, 4.77 ERA, 88.2 IP).
Making his fourth start since rejoining the rotation on July 16, Matz seems to have figured something out. In his previous three starts, he has not allowed more than two earned runs and holds a sparkling 15/2 K/BB ratio.
In his last outing, against these same Pirates on July 27, the left-hander threw a complete game shutout limiting Pittsburgh to just five hits. He did not walk a Pirate and struck out seven.
Friday will be Matz’s third career start at PNC Park. In his first two, he went 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA in 11 innings.
With Pittsburgh having lost a startling 10 of their last 11 games, this is a golden opportunity for the Mets to keep the Pirates down and continue to make up ground in the Wild Card race.
It all starts with a good outing from Matz on Friday. The action begins at 7:05 p.m. ET.
Mets Roundup
No update on the timeline for Jed Lowrie
Addressing the media after Thursday’s win, manager Mickey Callaway said he had nothing to report regarding the status of infielder Jed Lowrie (calf).
With each passing day, it seems increasingly likely that Lowrie will not play in 2019.
An All-Star with the Oakland Athletics in 2018, Lowrie was signed to a two-year/$20M contract in January.
