Matz Good, but Zito Better for Nashville

Las Vegas 51s @ Nashville Sounds

May 31, 2015

Steven Matz @ Barry Zito

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Las Vegas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
Nashville	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	1	4	0

W: Zito (3-4, 4.12 ERA); L: Matz (6-3, 1.98 ERA); Save: Alvarez (3, 5.40 ERA)

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Steven Matz – 5 IP, 4 H, R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 79 Pitches (50 Strikes), 8 GO: 2 FO

John Church (3.54 ERA) – 2 IP, SO, 2 GO: 1 FO

Zack Thornton (3.52 ERA) – 1 IP, 2 GO: 1 FO

Batters

Jayce Boyd – 1-2, BB, CS

Cory Vaughn – 1-3, SO

Recap

The 51s came out on the short end of a classic duel of lefties Sunday afternoon in Nashville, as former major league ace Barry Zito was just a little sharper than current PCL ace Steven Matz. It was a matchup of hard vs. soft, young vs. old, future vs. past… and it did not fail to deliver. Matz was definitely not at his sharpest throughout the start, as he was a little wild at times with his fastball, and got zero swinging strikes with his curveball (although he dropped in a few nice ones). The Sounds would jump on Matz for a run in the 1^st after he allowed a 2-out walk, as Nate Freiman lined an RBI double into RF to bring Ryan Roberts home from 1B. The 51s offense got absolutely nothing going, managing only two singles throughout the start. Matz settled in nicely after the 1^st, working around some poor defense behind him. He’d leave after only 5 IP and 77 strikes, but that’s more about innings/pitches conservation than any problem/pending promotion for Matz. John Church and Zack Thornton took over from the pen and deliver 3 perfect innings, but Las Vegas couldn’t scratch out a tying run.

Check out more from this start below. The 51s wrap this series up Monday night at 8 PM, with Tyler Pill scheduled to pitch for Las Vegas.

Scoring Highlights

After both hits, Nelfi Zapata was involved in a double play. Jayce Boyd led off the 3^rd with a single, and then the frame ended on a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play.

After Cory Vaughn hit a one out single with Travis Taijeron on 1B (walk) in the 8^th, Zapata hit a groundball to the shortstop to start a double play.

Pitcher Coverage

Steven Matz

Table 1 – Breaking down pitch count by type and inning

Count (Strikes)	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th	Total
Fastball	15 (7)	9 (6)	9 (6)	13 (8)	9 (5)	55 (33)
Changeup	4 (3)	1 (1)	0	1 (1)	0	6 (5)
Curveball	3 (2)	4 (4)	1 (0)	6 (4)	4 (2)	18 (12)
Total	22 (12)	14 (11)	10 (6)	20 (13)	13 (7)	79 (50)

Table 2 – Breaking down pitch results by type

Strike %
Total	Call	Sw	Foul

BIP%
LD	GB	FB	PU

Results
AB	BABIP	ISO	K

Fastball

21.8

5.5

18.2

12.5

.500

.111

Changeup

83.3

16.7

.000

Curveball

66.7

16.7

22.2

.000

Matz from the side

1^st inning

1) Craig Gentry hit a groundout to Reynolds (63/G)

i. 95 MPH Fastball – called strike 0-1

ii. Fastball – called strike 0-2

iii. Fastball – ball 1-2, knee high and outside

iv. Changeup – knee high outside corner

2) Joey Wendle out on a weak dribbler fielded by Zapata (23/G)

i. Fastball – called strike 0-1, knee high outside corner

ii. Curveball – knee high over the middle

3) Ryan Roberts walked (BB)

i. Fastball – called strike 0-1, thigh high outer half

ii. Changeup – ball 1-1, knee high and outside

iii. 95 MPH Fastball – ball 2-1, high

iv. Fastball – ball 3-1, high and in

v. Fastball – called strike 3-2, knee high outside corner

vi. Fastball – ball 4, belt high and outside

4) Nate Freiman lined an RBI double to RF (D9/L)

i. Changeup – called strike 0-1, knee high outside corner

ii. Fastball – ball 1-1, knee high and inside

iii. Fastball – ball 2-1, high and in

iv. Fastball – ball 3-1, high and away

v. Fastball

5) Kent Matthes grounded out to Reynolds (63/G)

i. Curveball – ball 1-0, not caught by Zapata

ii. Fastball – ball 2-0, high

iii. 95 MPH Fastball – called strike 2-1, knee high and outside corner

iv. Changeup – swinging strike 2-2

v. Curveball

2^nd inning

1) Niuman Romero hit a groundout to Castellanos (53/G)

i. Fastball – foul 0-1

ii. 96 MPH Fastball – foul 0-2

iii. Changeup

2) Matt Carson hit a groundout to Reynolds (63/G)

i. Fastball – ball 1-0, low and outside

ii. Fastball – ball 2-0, low

iii. Fastball – foul 2-1

iv. Fastball – foul 2-2

v. Curveball – foul 2-2

vi. Fastball

3) Anthony Aliotti struck out looking (K/Lo)

i. Curveball – called strike 0-1, outside corner

ii. Fastball – foul 0-2

iii. Fastball – ball 1-2, high

iv. Curveball – foul 1-2

v. Curveball – called strike 3

3^rd inning

1) Luke Carlin reached on a fielding error by Reynolds (E6/G)

i. Fastball – called strike 0-1, belt high outside corner

ii. 91 MPH Fastball – foul 0-2

iii. Fastball – ball 1-2, high and away

iv. Fastball – ball 2-2, low

v. Fastball

2) Gentry popped out in foul territory on a sac bunt attempt (3/P)

i. Fastball

3) Wendle hit a single into LF – ball got under the glove of Castellanos (S7/G)

i. Fastball – swinging strike 0-1

ii. Curveball – ball 1-1, low

iii. Fastball

4) Roberts hit a comebacker to Matz to start a double play (GIDP163/G)

i. Fastball

Alternate view

4^th inning

1) Freiman popped out to Allen in foul territory (3/P)

i. Fastball – called strike 0-1, inside corner

ii. Fastball – ball 1-1, high

iii. Fastball – ball 2-1, up and in

iv. Changeup

2) Matthes singled on a groundball to Reynolds (S6/G)

i. Fastball

3) Romers singled on a groundball into RF – got by Allen, who was playing in on the edge of the grass (S9/G)

i. Fastball – foul 0-1

ii. Curveball – ball 1-1, low

iii. Fastball

4) Carson struck out looking (K/Lo)

i. 92 MPH Fastball – swinging strike 0-1

ii. 75 MPH Curveball – called strike 0-2

iii. Curveball – foul 0-2

iv. Fastball – ball 1-2, low

v. 93 MPH Fastball – called strike 3

5) Aliotti flied out to Taijeron (9/F)

i. Curveball – ball 1-0, outside

ii. Fastball – ball 2-0, low

iii. 91 MPH Fastball – swinging strike 2-1

iv. Curveball – foul 2-2

v. 94 MPH Fastball – foul 2-2

vi. Fastball – ball 3-2, outside

vii. Curveball

5^th inning

1) Carlin walked (BB)

i. Fastball – ball 1-0, high

ii. Fastball – called strike 1-1, inside corner at the knees

iii. Fastball – foul 1-2

iv. Curveball – ball 2-2, inside

v. Fastball – ball 3-2, high and away

vi. Fastball – foul 3-2

vii. Fastball – ball 4, high

2) Gentry flied out to Taijeron (9/F)

i. Curveball – ball 1-0, high

ii. Fastball – ball 2-0, low and inside

iii. Fastball – called strike 2-1, knee high inside corner

iv. Curveball

3) Wendle hit a grounder to Rivera to start a double play (463/G)

i. Fastball – called strike 0-1, over the middle

ii. Curveball

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— Scientific American (@sciam) June 1, 2015

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