New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey appeared to break out of his slump Monday, as he threw a gem to defeat the Chicago White Sox 1-0.
Harvey, who entered the afternoon at 3-7 in 10 starts with a dreadful 6.08 ERA, tossed seven innings of shutout ball while allowing just two hits. The victory pushed the Mets to 29-21, which is a half-game back of the National League East-leading Washington Nationals.
New York’s Twitter account highlighted Harvey’s strikeouts:
CBS Sports’ Jonah Keri praised the beleaguered veteran:
The New York Post‘s Mike Puma noted that this was the first time Harvey made it past the sixth inning this season:
He also showed flashes of his old velocity, per ESPN’s Adam Rubin:
The game was scoreless until Neil Walker blasted a solo home run to left center field in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The White Sox have now lost seven straight.
Coming into the game, Harvey’s struggles were the major focus. After the 27-year-old’s rough outing against the Nationals on May 24, Newsday‘s David Lennon suggested the team should give him some time off to rediscover his game.
“Since the Mets still are trying to come up with a concrete plan for how to fix Matt Harvey, maybe a good start Wednesday would have been to hand him a notebook and pen,” Lennon wrote. “That way, as Steven Matz took apart the Nationals with surgical precision, Harvey might learn something from his seat in the dugout.“
However, Mets manager Terry Collins has stood by Harvey throughout this season and trusted his All-Star starter to break out sooner rather than later, per NJ.com’s Joe Giglio:
I believe as we continue, Matt’s going to get better. I think he’s going to bounce back,” Collins said. “A year ago, we were concerned that his velocity wasn’t there, his slider wasn’t there. Then by mid-summer he was back. I expect the same thing to happen again this year. I think in a few weeks we’ll look up and Matt Harvey will be back.
If Monday was any indication, Collins may be right. Harvey had full command once more and looked like a legitimate star.
New York already has aces in Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard, so pitching depth isn’t a concern. Despite Harvey’s slump, the club is still third in the MLB in team ERA. If Harvey can get going, the Mets will challenge the Chicago Cubs‘ claim to having the strongest pitching staff in baseball.
Postgame Reaction
Collins reaffirmed his belief in Harvey following his team’s win, courtesy of New York’s Twitter account:
He went on to say that Harvey’s performance is promising for the Mets moving forward, according to ESPN.com’s Danny Knobler.
I think today is a first big step, Collins said. He feels good about the way it went. He feels good about the way he threw the ball. Now we’ve just got to build on it, and stay as positive as we can and have him repeat it. No matter what the results are, if he repeats this kind of performance with stuff, I think we’re on the right track.
Harvey appeared satisfied that the work he put in to reverse his struggles yielded positive results, per the Mets:
SportsCenter noted that it has been a while since Harvey carried his team to such a close win.
His teammates hope that Harvey’s performance will instill some confidence back into the ace, per Newsday‘s Anthony Rieber.
“It helps when you go out there and throw seven scoreless,” David Wright said, per Rieber. “You get a little of that cockiness back. That’s what we’ve been accustomed to seeing and kind of spoiled us the last few years.”
When he has his best stuff, Harvey is nearly impossible to beat. Other top pitchers, such as the Boston Red Sox’s David Price, were able to turn their seasons around after slow starts, and Harvey has the ability to do the same.
All statistics are courtesy of ESPN.com.
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