Re-meet the Matz: Former Mets lefty aims to save Cardinals from a sweep by his former club
Matz #Matz
The turn of events shortly before Major League Baseball plunged into its 99-day lockout will be fodder for narratives galore about how a jilted owner’s tweet may have spurred his team into a spending spree because he could.
It has been a subplot to this series at Busch Stadium.
Steven Matz makes his second career start against his first team, and it will be the lefty’s first start since his signing with the Cardinals prompted Mets’ owner Steve Cohen to grouse on Twitter about how he thought they had an agreement in place, had a real chance to reunite with the lefty, and then didn’t. In the days that followed, Cohen went on a binge, including a record-setting offer to right-hander Max Scherzer.
Scherzer, who will make more than $40 million this season, pitched seven shutout innings for the Mets in the first game of this series and he’s gone more than 10 months without losing a regular season game.
The series opened by the starter who chose the Mets not closes with the starter who picked the Cardinals ahead of them.
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Matz is pitching to avoid a sweep.
In his only previous start against the club that drafted him, Matz allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings and took a loss.
The lineup behind him for Wednesday afternoon’s series finale at Busch Stadium has some twists to it, mostly with swapping of positions. Shortstop Edmundo Sosa is starting at third base so that Nolan Arenado can slide over for a break as designated hitter. Dylan Carlson, who has been struggling at the plate like a handful of his teammates, will move over to center field, spelling Harrison Bader and giving Corey Dickerson his first appearance in the field. Dickerson will be playing right field.
The Mets have already secured the series win to continue their strong start to the season. The Cardinals have lost their first series of the season.
The schedule softens a bit for the Cardinals before bounding west to face the San Francisco Giants. All of the Cardinals’ series wins this season have come against teams that had losing records last season or are this year’s Cincinnati Reds.
P: Carlos “Cookie” Carrasco, RHP
Check back throughout the day here at C-Beat and StlToday for coverage from the ballpark, including any news and updates that surface during the morning media availability. Rick Hummel will be at the keyboard for complete coverage of the game in the pages of Thursday’s Post-Dispatch.
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