Mets Pitcher Etches His Name in the History Books with One of the Worst Outings in MLB History
New York Mets pitcher Steven Matz had a historically bad outing Tuesday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The numbers are hard to fathom.
Matz’s official line was eight runs on four hits in zero innings pitched, with six of those eight runs earned.
Yes, he gave up eight runs and did not record an out before being lifted for Drew Gagnon in the first inning.
Matz faced only eight batters. Two of those batters — Scott Kingery and Maikel Franco — hit home runs.
Watch it go, Franc?.#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/9PauHkUivq
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 16, 2019
To put this in historical perspective, only five pitchers since 1893 have had equally bad outings, according to ESPN.
One of those pitchers was the Mets’ Bobby Jones, who gave up eight runs before recording an out in 1997.
Two Oakland A’s starters — Blake Stein in 1998 and Bill Krueger in 1984 — also did it.
The last man to accomplish this dubious feat was the Cincinnati Reds’ Paul Wilson, who did it twice — once in 2003 and once in 2005.
Steven Matz had himself a bad day.
He became just the 6th starting pitcher since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893 to allow 8 runs without recording an out.
Only 3 franchises have had this occur: the Mets, Athletics, and Reds. They’ve each had it happen twice. pic.twitter.com/lQ6y8sk787
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 17, 2019
After the game, which the Phillies won 13-4, Matz was blunt about his performance.
“Poor effort tonight,” he told reporters after the game. “I’ve got to get ready for my next start. Just got to wash it and address what went wrong out there and keep moving forward.”
Steven Matz called tonight “a poor effort.” He breaks it down here: pic.twitter.com/sKxzv6oow7
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 17, 2019
He cited pitch execution as his problem.
“I’ve been here before, so at this point I know I can come out of it,” Matz said. “It doesn’t define me or define the season or anything. Just got to wash it and move forward.”
What’s even more shocking about this effort is that Matz had been pitching great coming in. He was 1-0 in four starts with an ERA of 1.65, which was fifth-best in the league. Matz had 19 strikeouts in 16.1 innings.
With this one bad outing, his ERA jumped to 4.96.
“These happen from time to time,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said, according to MLB.com. “Not very often. These are rough ones. He’ll regroup, come back out next time and get after it.”
The Phillies improved to 10-6, while the Mets fell to 10-7.
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