NEW YORK – A “dent” in Matt Harvey's pitching arm did not slow the Dark Knight on Saturday night.
Making the Game 1 start in the National League Championship Series for the New York Mets, Harvey retired the first dozen batters he faced as the Amazins beat the Chicago Cubs 4-2 at Citi Field.
Harvey ultimately limited the Cubs to two runs on four hits, a hit batter and two walks (one intentional) in 7⅔ innings to earn the victory.
He was struck on the back of his pitching arm by a sixth-inning line drive off the bat of Dexter Fowler. But Harvey shook it off and continued to pitch until giving up a two-out, solo home run to Kyle Schwarber in the eighth that pulled the Cubs within two runs.
Manager Terry Collins had Addison Reed warming after Harvey was struck with the liner, but never needed to use him.
“The ball kind of dented my arm a little bit,” Harvey said. “It got me right in the triceps. I felt fine going out there again, and really felt fine through the rest of the game. It’s a little bit swollen right now, but the training staff will take care of that and we’ll be all set.”
Harvey said he does not like to watch too much video, but he had a more intensive study session Saturday afternoon with pitching coach Dan Warthen. They decided to work off Harvey’s secondary pitches to open the game rather than rely on his fastball. That resulted in striking out the opening two batters in a perfect first inning.
“He threw the ball so well,” said Daniel Murphy, who homered for the third consecutive game, matching a franchise postseason record. “It was cool to see from second base because he kind of started with the changeup as the secondary pitch, and then the second and third time through, he’s going to the breaking ball. He did a great job keeping them off balance.”
Harvey had been dissatisfied with his lone appearance in the division series, when he allowed three runs (two earned) in five innings in an eventual 13-7 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was gratified to get the Game 1 start against the Cubs as an opportunity for redemption, and was further pleased with how well he pitched.
“After the first go-around, I definitely wasn’t happy,” Harvey said, referring to the NLDS. “Obviously we won. That was the most important thing. I think I said in the press conference yesterday that I really wanted to be back out there as much as I possibly could. And getting the ball the first game, I really wanted to start things off the right way and get us rolling. Fortunately enough, I had things working pretty well.”
Harvey became the first Mets pitcher to allow no more than two runs, strike out at least nine batters and log more than seven innings in a postseason game since Tom Seaver in Game 3 of the 1973 World Series.
Despite the September innings-cap hullabaloo, Harvey has now reached 202 innings in 2015, including the postseason. That's 22 innings over the limit espoused last month by agent Scott Boras.
Harvey's innings count is now the fifth-most ever in a first season back from Tommy John surgery. Only John Lackey (215⅓ IP, 2013), Adam Wainwright (213⅔ IP, 2012), Tommy John (207 IP, 1976) and Jake Westbrook (202⅔ IP, 2010) pitched more, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Harvey said he is glad the flap is behind him.
“After everything that’s happened, I think the biggest thing was really staying focused on what I had to do tonight,” he said. “Regardless of what’s happened, my job is to go out and to give us quality innings, and to keep the damage down, and really get us started off right. I wanted to go out there. I wanted this game bad. Luckily we put up some runs, I was able to limit damage, and it was a complete team win. It’s nice being able to contribute to that.”