By ,
Published September 29, 2015
Matt Harvey appears to have changed his mind about limiting his innings in the latter stages of the season.
After the New York Mets ace skipped a start and then was confined to five innings and 77 pitches on a Sept. 20 start, Harvey threw 97 pitches over 6 2/3 innings in the Mets' division-clinching win over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.
Manager Terry Collins explained that Harvey's unabbreviated outing was a result of a conversation he had with the 26-year-old righty prior to the start.
"I need to throw 100 pitches in my next two outings," Collins quoted Harvey. "We're going to win this, and I need to be ready for the playoffs, and I'm not ready. In the game against the Yankees, I finally felt comfortable in the fifth inning, and I came out. I've got to get ready."
Collins said he replied to Harvey, "Well, we've got to go through some channels before we do that, and talk to [general manager] Sandy [Alderson] about it."
After Alderson told Collins that the decision was Harvey's to make, Collins relayed the message to Harvey, telling him, "You're on."
With his 6 2/3 innings on Saturday, Harvey has now exceeded the initially set limit of 180 innings; however, he appears more concerned about the Mets' success than the potential risks associated with his workload in his first season since having Tommy John surgery.
"I know this guy real well," Collins said. "When you saw the look on his face after I took him out of the Yankee game, he was disturbed. He understood it, but he was not happy with it. So, I was not surprised when he walked in and said, 'I want to pitch.' I said, 'It's always been your call. You have to make the decisions. It's your life. It's your career. You're going to make the call. If you want to pitch, you're going to pitch.'"
(h/t ESPN)
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/matt-harvey-wants-to-ditch-limitations-as-mets-near-postseason