For a while on Saturday night, it looked like Steven Matz would be able to drive back to his childhood home on Long Island with the knowledge he pitched the Mets to the victory that evened the World Series with the help of fellow rookie Michael Conforto and his two solo homers.
Instead, both were mere footnotes to a crushing 5-3 loss to the Royals in Game 4 of the World Series that left the Mets one loss away from their season ending.
“It’s tough,” Matz said. “Nobody wants to lose.”
But manager Terry Collins opted to leave Matz in the game to start the sixth — a decision that will be debated for decades if the Mets don’t pull off a dramatic comeback by winning the next three games — and Matz faltered.
After Matz escaped a jam by giving up just one run in the top of the fifth to preserve a lead, Conforto hit his second solo homer of the night in the bottom of the inning to put the Mets up by two runs again.
Matz surprisingly was allowed to hit for himself following Conforto’s homer, when he lined out and then took the mound to start the sixth.
The move promptly blew up, as Matz allowed a leadoff double to Ben Zobrist and a run-scoring single to Lorenzo Cain to make it 3-2.
“This team is really good at grinding down pitchers,” David Wright said of the Royals, who did it again Saturday.
Collins finally came out to get Matz and Jon Niese and Bartolo Colon managed to get through the rest of the inning unscathed, but the inning gave new life to the Royals, who then erupted for three runs in the eighth to take control of the game and retake control of the series.
“After the home run, I thought I’d let him hit,” Collins said. “I thought he was still throwing the ball OK.”
So did Matz, especially after Conforto’s homer.
“It was a good lift,” Matz said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t put up a zero after that.”
And he didn’t expect to be pulled after five.
“That’s never my mindset,” Matz said. “My mindset is always to go back out there.”
It was a rough ending for the 24-year-old from Stony Brook, who handed out candy to neighborhood children at his childhood home before leaving for the game on Halloween.
And for Conforto, who launched Citi Field into a frenzy with his two blasts.
“The feeling after the two home runs was tremendous,” said Conforto, who entered the game with just two hits this postseason. “You dream about those moments, but you’re also conflicted. You want to get that win.”