Yesterday into this morning, the sky was falling after another bad start by Matt Harvey and his refusal to speak with the media. The Mets lost a game to the Nationals and dropped a game in the standings. The world was coming to an end. With that in the backdrop, David Wright came up to bat in the first, and did this:

That was all the help Steven Matz needed. He utterly and completely dominated the Nationals in winning his seventh straight start. At one point, he retired 16 in a row. He only had two 2-0 accounts. He got a huge out by retiring Bryce Harper as the tying run in the eight. His final line was eight innings, four hits, no runs, one walk, and seven strikeouts. 

Matz has lowered his ERA from a gawdy 37.80 in his first start to 2.36. Since that nightmare first start, he has gone 7-0 with a 1.13 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP. He’s clearly the early favorite in the Rookie of the Year voting. He’s also due consideration for the All Star Game and even the Cy Young Award. 

Matz wasn’t the only young Met who had a big day.  Matt Reynolds got his first big league hit in the fifth. He scored his first big league run in the seventh off of a Rene Rivera RBI single.  The inning was set up by a Daniel Murphy error on what should have been an inning ending double play off the bat of Eric Campbell. The ball went right through Murphy’s wickets and the Mets lived to put up another run on the board.   Reynolds would finish the day 1-3 with a run and a walk. Rivera would finish the game 1-3 with an RBI. He would also throw out Michael Taylor in the third. 

The Nationals would rally in the ninth putting the first two on against Jeurys Familia. Famila bore down and got the next three outs to preserve the 2-0 win. Familia is now a perfect 16/16 in save attempts this year. 

Overall, this was just a terrific win by the Mets. They came into Washington and took 2/3 from the Nationals. They evened the season series at 3-3. They’re now only a half game behind the Nationals for the division. The Mets are in for a dog fight for the division, and they have showed they’re up for the fight. This is going to be a fun run this year. 

Game Notes: Reynolds was pressed into action as Asdrubal Cabrera left the game with a stiff back after the top of the first. Cabrera was technically in the game despite not having had an at bat or taking the field by his being in the starting lineup.