(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
It had been almost a full year, but Steven Matz finally earned a win on Thursday night.
The St. Louis Cardinals sent the winless left-hander to the mound against the Chicago Cubs in hopes of extending their winning streak to six games.
Matz gave St. Louis five innings and allowed just one run, defeating Marcus Stroman and the Cubs.
From there, the bullpen allowed just one run as St. Louis won by a final score of 7-2 over the North Siders.
And so, Matz finally earned his first win of the season.
On Twitter, the Cardinals posted a cool graphic featuring the veteran left-hander’s line from Thursday night’s contest.
Matz mowed ’em down tonight! #STLCards x @ANG_Recruiting pic.twitter.com/HfnRtqazYM
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) July 21, 2023
Matz allowed just three hits and struck out six batters, while only walking one.
The left-hander had pitched well after being moved to the bullpen, but was ultimately placed back in the rotation when Adam Wainwright went down with a shoulder injury.
Two of Matz’s past three starts have been quite solid, and he appears to be coming around after a dreadful start to the season.
The 32-year-old lowered his ERA to 4.67 on the year with Thursday night’s solid performance, and he helped the surging Cardinals continue their winning streak.
St. Louis is now fewer than 10 games under the .500 mark for the first time since June 3.
Matz’s only tally came in the fourth inning on a triple by Yan Gomes.
Aside from his lone run, the veteran lefty had a solid night and helped the Cards stay hot in the month of July.
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