Steven Matz, Noah Syndergaard had very different 2022 debuts this weekend

Steven Matz almost signed with the New York Mets back in November before apparently changing his mind at the last minute. Instead of returning to the Mets, he landed a gig with the St. Louis Cardinals. On Sunday, April 10, he introduced himself to St. Louis with a rough debut.

After he was spotted three runs in the first inning, Matz cruised through the first two frames before getting to the third inning when the wheels came off.

Three singles helped load the bases for Michael Chavis of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Chavis took a page out of Pete Alonso’s book and delivered a sick granny. Another single and a double added a fifth run to the board. He’d get out of the inning but ended up with a stat line of three innings, 9 hits, 7 earned runs, a walk, and 5 strikeouts.

Former Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard had a much better debut than Steven Matz this weekend

Another notable former Mets player also appeared for the first time with his new team. Noah Syndergaard pitched his first big league game with a team other than the Metropolitans. One of the other pitchers the Mets considered bringing back for the 2022 season, Syndergaard turned down the qualifying offer then fled to the West Coast to join up with the Los Angeles Angels.

In his first game, Syndergaard faced off against a much tougher opponent than the one Matz drew. He had to face Justin Verlander and the Houston Astros.

Thor won the game in an unusual way. He lasted 5.1 innings, allowed 2 hits, walked a pair, and had only a single strikeout. The Astros are one of the league’s better teams at avoiding the K so it’s not exactly a surprise except for the fact that strikeouts have been a big part of Syndergaard’s game.

Something else Mets fans will care about; Aaron Loup was the first man out of the bullpen in relief of Syndergaard. He gave the Angels a near-perfect inning with the lone blemish being an error by the third baseman to lead off the seventh.

In other former Mets starting pitcher news, Matt Harvey got a job with the Baltimore Orioles. It’s a minor league pact which if you’ve seen the Orioles you know there isn’t much of a difference between their major league and minor league system. Nevertheless, it’s a pleasant surprise for the Dark Knight to have any job at all in the league after the offseason he had. Stay tuned for what he may do whenever he gets back on the field again.