PITTSBURGH _ In the Mets' 8-4 loss to the Pirates on Friday night, the end of their seven-game win streak, baseball showed again its amazingly, frustratingly, mind-numbingly unpredictable nature.
Last weekend, Steven Matz tossed his first career shutout against the Pirates. This time, he maintained that pace through three innings at PNC Park. And then he completely lost it in the fourth, allowing five runs before manager Mickey Callaway pulled him at 65 pitches and 3 2/3 innings.
For the Mets (53-56), the loss was their second in their past 10 games, a run that has injected them back into the fringes of the National League Wild-Card race.
Matz's meltdown happened in a hurry. Bryan Reynolds led off with a walk. Starling Marte and Josh Bell both singled in a span of three pitches, Bell's driving in Pittsburgh's first run (and ending Matz's 14-inning scoreless streak). Jose Osuna singled to center for another run. Melky Cabrera shot a two-run double off the top of the left-centerfield wall for a Pirates lead. Adam Frazier grounded out for the first out of the inning, but Elias Diaz dropped a bloop RBI single into center. Matz's night ended with righthander Trevor Williams' sacrifice bunt. That whole sequence took just 22 pitches.
That sudden ineffectiveness was the opposite of what he had done to Pittsburgh in the past week. In his first 12 innings, Matz held the Pirates to 6-for-41 (.146). In the fourth inning Friday, they went 5-for-6 against the lefthander.
Almost presciently _ but probably just as a former pitcher and pitching coach who knows how impossible this sport is _ Callaway predicted before the game that this one would be tougher than Matz's complete game.
"Every pitch was working (last Saturday). It's not always going to be that easy," Callaway said. "I wouldn't suspect it's going to go as easy as it did last time for him."
The bad inning also worsened Matz's dramatic home/road splits this season. At Citi Field, Matz has a 2.06 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. Everywhere else, he has a 6.79 ERA and 1.67 WHIP.
