Matz's command made it difficult on Nats in 2-0 setback

Left-hander Steven Matz was as advertised as the Mets dropped the Nationals 2-0 to win the series in D.C.

Matz is now 6-0 in his career in road starts after tossing eight innings of shutout baseball. In his first ever meeting against the Nats, he dominated.

The Nationals mustered only four hits off of Matz. Manager Dusty Baker said one key was Matz seemed to gain strength as the game progressed.

"He was throwing as hard in the eighth as he was in the first," Baker said. "He threw a heck of a game. You don't see many lefties around throwing 94, 95 miles an hour consistently.

"He had a good change-up. I don't know if he wanted anybody. He was dotting the outside part of the plate. I'm not that concerned with a guy like that. Sometimes you're dominated. And he threw a heck of a game up there."

Bryce Harper did not start. He did pinch-hit in the eighth in what was one of the best chances the Nats had against Matz all day.

With a man on and two away, Harper grounded out to second base to end the possible threat.

Matz (7-1) said he was extra motivated when manager Terry Collins kept him in for a big at-bat vs. the reigning National League MVP.

"Yeah it definitely means something," Matz said. "You don't want to come out in that situation and for your manager to have faith in you to leave you out to face arguably the greatest hitter in the game, right now it's pretty awesome."

Matz fell behind 2-0 against Harper. But then on a 2-1 pitch, he forced Harper to roll over to second base for the out to end the inning. Was Matz a little hyped for the matchup?

"I think I was overthrowing a little bit," Matz said of the at-bat. "Got a little excited but just (knew to) step off, stay within myself and get the ball over the plate."

Right-hander Tanner Roark (3-4) did not pitch poorly, but did have to labor to 113 pitches. He finished with seven innings, allowing five hits, two runs (one earned), two walks and five strikeouts.

David Wright hit a solo homer in the first inning. He was just the second batter Roark faced. Roark settled in after that, but said that initial meeting bothered him the most.

"I need to get it going in the first inning, first pitch of the game," Roark said. "The home run to Wright was bad execution on the fastball away, and it was up and it goes over the fence whenever the ball is up and it's not executed with conviction. I think after the double play from (Eric) Campbell that early, got the fire going. But I need to do a better job of getting the fire going pitch one of the game."

Later in the seventh, .095 hitter Rene Rivera took advantage of second baseman Daniel Murphy's error to add a RBI single for all the offense the Mets needed.

Murphy was not happy about that mistake in a close game.

"We should've gotten out of that inning down one-nothing," Murphy said. "I misplayed another ground ball, which just needs to stop happening. He throws a double play ball that should get him out of the inning. Makes it two-nothing and it just changes our approach from an offensive perspective."

Bad hop?

"No, it was not a bad hop. It was a bad play, by me," Murphy said.

But it turned out even one run would have been enough because the Nationals offense was unable to solve the young southpaw. Matz pitched eight innings, allowing only four hits, no runs, one walk and seven strikeouts.

Matz said he continues to build a nice rhythm with each successful start.

"I just feel real confident on the mound," Matz said. "The main thing is with my command and when you can command the fastball it makes your life so much easier. That's what I'm able to do right now."

Murphy finished 2-for-4 in the game, notching one of only four singles off of Matz the entire game.

"Matz through the ball really well today," Murphy said. "He did. Worked fast, pounded the zone, real good feel for the changeups, left, left as well. I thought Tanner through the ball well enough to win. He really did."