New York Mets' starter Matt Harvey outdueled one of the best pitchers in baseball Friday night, Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals, in a 7-1 Mets victory that helped Harvey become Major League Baseball's first four-game winner in 2013.
Harvey was electric again for the Mets, tossing seven innings of one-run ball, giving up four hits and walking three batters while striking out seven. Harvey improved his record to 4-0, lowered his ERA to 0.93, and his WHIP to 0.65. Harvey has excited the Mets' fan base so much that as the game progressed the crowd began chanting "Harvey's better!" at Strasburg as he pitched.
Harvey was humble following the game when he was asked about the crowd's bold chant. "It was nice," Harvey said, "but we've got a long way to go." Strasburg downplayed the marquee matchup with Harvey after the game ended. "It's funny, because you guys want to make a big deal out of all this, but every game's huge for me. I want to go out there and want to help this team and it doesn't matter who's facing us."
When asked about Harvey, who seems to be developing hype that echoes the expectations attached to Strasburg when he broke into the big leagues, he praised the Mets' pitcher but indicated more exposure to the league will make things tougher down the road. "He's got good stuff. He's pounding the strike zone. It's still early, obviously, a lot of our guys haven't really faced him that much."
Mets' first baseman Ike Davis busted out of a bad slump Friday night, socking two home runs in the win. His teammate, Lucas Duda, also slugged two home runs of his own and helping put on a power display rarely seen in spacious CitiField.
The Mets will send Jeremy Hefner (0-2, 7.20 ERA) to the mound this afternoon against Gio Gonzalez (1-1, 4.50 ERA). The game can be seen on SNY or live streamed here.
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