ST. LOUIS — In his last seven starts for the Cardinals, Steven Matz has only allowed six runs. That’s it for six. His ERA during that time is 1.37.
Stellar stuff; exceptional production, even. So, why has the veteran lefty mainly slid under the radar? Matz’s seven-start streak spans over 10 months, spanning five starts in the middle of the 2023 season (from July 20 to Aug. 12) and his first two starts in ’24, including five scoreless innings in the Cards’ 3-1 win over the Marlins on Saturday at Busch Stadium.
It’s difficult to get many headlines that way, especially because the Cards have some young studs.
But in his mind, Matz has picked up in 2024 where he left off last season, ignoring the couple months that he spent on the injured list with a lat strain. After all, he didn’t give up any runs then, either. To him, it’s all one elongated stretch of success, tied together with a similar formula: trust your best pitches and get after hitters aggressively.
“Me and Dusty [Blake, the pitching coach] were working on it a lot last season,” Matz said, “carrying it into Spring Training and now, just getting after guys and having that mentality.”
Matz’ run totals in seven starts are: 1, 0, 0, 1, 2, 2, 0. Staying more in the zone, he’s walked just seven batters, a stark contrast against 31 strikeouts.
And then, there’s this: Matz struggled early in the 2023 season, to the point that the Cardinals dropped him into the bullpen to regain some confidence. When he became a reliever, his ERA was 5.72. In the new role, he consolidated his pitches a bit, focusing mostly on his fastball — it registers as a sinker, but Matz considers it a two-seamer, with more run than drop — and his changeup.
Relievers traditionally only rely on two pitches, maybe three, so it made sense.
And it worked. Rolling with pitches he trusted and using them aggressively in shorter stints was a mentality Matz could see working when he got back to his preferred role as a starter.
“That was when I started seeing the mentality of wanting to get back into the rotation, ‘I want another shot at this,’” manager Oliver Marmol said after Saturday’s win. “It had very little to do with how he was using his stuff at that point, but then it led to asking how to best use his stuff. I think the switch back to the rotation was more mental than anything.”
