Matt Harvey‘s latest comeback went about as poorly as any knowledgeable Mets fan anticipated. Aside from not being near physically ready, Harvey came in with the cards stacked against him – on the road against a playoff bound team with the best offense in baseball. As if that weren’t enough, the team and its fans were fired up following the devastating impact of Hurricane Harvey (how dreadfully ironic, right?), plus the additions of some new weapons via last minute trades. Harvey, Matt that is, was doomed.
Sure enough, his velocity was down, his secondary pitch command was off and the Astros hitters feasted off him to the tune of seven runs on eight hits over just two innings. Harvey will get another shot in five days against the Reds at home followed by a few more after that to try to prove he should figure in to the 2018 rotation plans.
As if a seven run hole wasn’t enough to overcome, Tommy Milone brought his gas can to the hill allowing another three to score. Meanwhile the Mets struggled against journeyman Charlie Morton, who struck out nine in five innings. The only damage was done by Dominic Smith‘s two-run home run. Thankfully, Morton’s pitch count was high so the Mets had a shot to come back against the bullpen. Wilmer Flores‘ seventh inning grand slam briefly brought the game within reach at 10-7, but after new bullpen addition #1 Jacob Rhame pitched a scoreless inning and a third, new addition #2, Jamie Callahan coughed up two more runs to put the game out of reach. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a meaningless home run in the ninth to bring the final score to 12-8.
The second game of the day-night double header in Houston will feature Seth Lugo vs. Brad Peacock. Tune in if you have nothing better to do on the Saturday night of a holiday weekend.
Harvey the hurricane was awful and so was Harvey the pitcher. His rehab outings were not encouraging and with just a few minor league games still on the schedule it would have been sensible to give him another minor league start. Matt has had a year that looks like he has lost something in his pitches. It is difficult to plan for a 2018 rotation with Wheeler and Matz on the disabled list and Harvey only a shell of himself. They need more reliably starting pitching for 2018