The Mets were coming off three fairly miserable losses in a row thanks to poor defense, an ineffective bullpen, and a browned out offense.
They really, really needed a win, and needed their ace to stop the bleeding.
Batman to the rescue.
“I think the streak that we’ve had the last couple of games needed to come to an end,” Harvey said after Friday night’s game. “I needed to throw up zeroes and fortunately enough, I was able to do that.”
Yes he did, but that’s pretty typical for the Mets phenom of an ace.
Harvey allowed only five hits while striking out three in seven scoreless innings on Friday night, improving to 5-0 for the year, 3-0 following a Met loss.
“That’s the definition of an ace right there,” Michael Cuddyer said. “He’s a stopper.”
“When you’ve got a number one guy, it’s great to have,’’ Terry Collins said after the game. “These are games that are fun to watch. Matt Harvey takes these games to heart. Not just Max Scherzer, but the Nationals are the team we’ve got to play and play better. He takes that as a challenge.”
Harvey actually didn’t have his best fastball working for him. He had excellent velocity – it was in the mid-to-upper 90s all night – but it lacked the zip and life it normally has, and the Nationals weren’t terribly fooled by it as a result. He only induced four swings and misses on the 63 fastballs he threw and didn’t record a single 1-2-3 innings on the night.
“They’re a good fastball-hitting team, so I had to figure out what I could flip in there for a strike and keeping them guessing,” Harvey explained.
Harvey is such a smart pitcher – he knew he didn’t have his best fastball. He said so after the game. So, he incorporated his off-speed pitches, specifically his slider, and used that to get the Nationals out instead.
He was successful in his quest. Six of the 16 off-speed pitches he threw for strikes were swung on and missed by the Nationals, they didn’t put any of his change-ups in play, and Harvey got five outs on his curveball and slider.
Before the game, Collins said Harvey would have a 105 pitch limit, but he was lifted after throwing 93 pitches over seven innings.
“I thought Matt was running out of gas, to be bluntly honest,’’ Collins said of removing him after seven innings. “You could see him starting to labor between pitches a little bit. I told him, ‘You’ve gotten us this far. That’s enough.’’’
It was clear he didn’t have his best stuff, and there was no reason to flirt with the Nationals hitters just because he might have been able to throw ten more pitches. They had his fastball figured out and, as Harvey said, that’s a good fastball hitting team – it might’ve only been a matter of time before they squared up on a couple of them.
Batman had already saved the day. In a situation where the Mets really needed a win, Collins made the right call.
To see highlights from Harvey’s win, watch this video:
Just Mets 