Mets left-hander Steven Matz turned in seven brilliant innings, outdueling Indians ace Corey Kluber, and looking more like the National League Rookie of the Year contender he is expected to be this season, in a 6-0 win over the Indians on Sunday.
The victory helped New York take two of three in this Interleague set at Progressive Field, and it served as a solid bounceback performance for Matz. In his season debut last week, the promising lefty suffered the worst outing of his career. Sunday showed that the young starter can easily turn the page on that kind of experience.
Matz struck out a career-high nine batters in his first win of the year, leading the Mets to their first series victory.
“It’s great to start the road trip this way,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “I thought when we went on the road we were going to start playing a little bit better, swinging the bats a little bit better, and we have. We’ve just got to continue.”
Kluber, on the other hand, found the loss column for the third time this season with a performance that was a mix of poor command and tough conditions. Four of the nine hits allowed by the right-hander were of the extra-base variety, but two (a triple by Curtis Granderson and a double by Yoenis Cespedes in the second inning) were aided by a bright sun that toyed with Cleveland’s outfielders.
New York went 2-for-15 against Kluber following Cespedes’ sun-assisted double, but the damage had been done. Kluber was charged with six earned runs and finished with eight strikeouts and one walk in the six-inning outing.
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