NEW YORK _ In years past _ in months past, even _ Steven Matz never would have been granted the chance to put together the kind of game he had Saturday night.
Working around a bunch of baserunners and never particularly efficient, Matz got through a gutsy six innings with three runs (two earned) allowed, leading the Mets to a 5-3 win against the Rockies. The final of his career-high-tying 120 pitches was a huge one: a curveball up in the zone, inducing a swing-and-miss from Charlie Blackmon, the Colorado leadoff hitter seeing Matz for a fourth time, to strand a pair of runners.
Bench coach Jim Riggleman and pitching coach Dave Eiland made the decision, in place of an ejected Mickey Callaway, to leave Matz in for that critical at-bat. It put on full display the recently developed trust the Mets have in the left-hander (and, perhaps, a lack of confidence in their middle relievers).
The old Matz _ the one who cracked under the teensiest bit of pressure, who too often didn't last his 100-pitch approximate limit _ might have been pulled, say, in the fourth inning when he plunked Blackmon to put two on with two out, moments after a Todd Frazier throwing error allowed the Rockies to tie the game. Or after the fifth, when he set Colorado down in order but reached 100 pitches. Or at any of several points in the sixth: when Ian Desmond led off with a hard single that knocked Matz's glove off, when Tony Wolters was hit by a pitch, when Blackmon stepped to the plate.
The new Matz powered through all of those moments. He finished with 10 strikeouts _ reaching double-digits for the second time in his career _ and allowed six hits and two walks.
Far from perfect, Matz (3.88 ERA) allowed the Rockies to tie it twice in the half-innings immediately after the Mets scored. His leadoff walk of Wolters in the third started a two-run rally. In the fourth, consecutive singles by Brendan Rodgers and Wolters produced another run (when poor throws from Michael Conforto and Frazier on the same play allowed Rodgers to score).
The Mets (31-33) got to Jon Gray for four runs in 5 2/3 innings. A trio of 30-somethings who have been lineup mainstays each had two hits: Wilson Ramos (run), Frazier (RBI, run) and Carlos Gomez (two-run homer in the second).
Rookie Pete Alonso added a critical insurance run in the seventh with a solo homer; not realizing he had earned a free trip around the bases on his tall fly ball that barely got over the wall in left, Alonso slid into third during his home-run trot. Alonso's 21 homers are second-most in the majors behind Milwaukee's Christian Yelich (23).
Callaway was ejected in the bottom of the fifth by plate umpire Mike Winters for arguing balls and strikes. Winters called an inconsistent strike zone for much of the night _ an advantage for no one in particular _ and Callaway decided to say something about it after a low pitch to Dominic Smith. The pitch was called a strike and indeed appeared to catch the bottom of the zone, according to MLB's Gameday.
Neither team showed any interest in providing a sequel to the benches-clearing excitement from Friday night. The first HBP of the game went to Frazier, who took a Gray curveball off his left arm to begin the bottom of the second. He took one quick little sideways hop toward the pitcher and jogged to first.
