With a one out single down the first baseline, Alexei Ramirez broke up a no-hit bid by Steven Matz the eighth inning of the Mets-Padres game on Sunday afternoon.
Prior to the single, Matz had been cruising. Through seven and a third innings, he had faced 23 batters, just one over the minimum for seven and a third. Matz was working on the usual five days’ rest after throwing a career high 120 pitches in his last start against the Arizona Diamond Backs. In his 22 regular season start, Matz struck out eight Padres and walked just two with a balk. With seven and a third scoreless innings, Matz brought his ERA down by .20 points to 3.40 on the season.
An overriding theme of Matz’s outing, especially towards the end of it was his pitch count. As mentioned before, he threw a career high 120 pitches in his last start prior to Sunday. In the pitch count era, this is a high number for any pitcher, especially for a young pitcher that is battling a bone spur in his throwing elbow. When he went into the eighth inning, his pitch count was approaching 100. In 21 regular season starts, he has been taken out of the game with a pitch count ranging from 95 to 105, eight times. More often than not, he has been taken out before this he reached this plateau.
This was no ordinary situation however. A no-hitter was on the line. As his pitch count climbed, so did as did the anxiety within his manager, Terry Collins. Collins has been chastised multiple times by the media and the fans for his misuse and overuse of his pitchers. In this situation, if Matz’s no-hit bid had continued, Collins would have been faced with the impossible choice of letting Matz continue on to history, or yank him and hope the bullpen could finish off the game.
Depending on how you see the situation, you can say that the hit by Ramirez as a godsend for both Matz and Collins. It saved Matz from throwing more pitches than he ever has and it saved Collins from having to make an excruciating decision in which he is wrong regardless of what he does.
When all was said and done, Matz left the game after he have up the single. For the game, he threw 105 pitches, enough for his fourth most pitches thrown in the regular season in his career. The Mets would go on to get the 5-1 win against the Padres and the series win as well.
The Mets hope this series will prove to boost their confidence and carry them through the rest of the season as they travel out to Arizona to start a ten game west coast trip.
