PHOENIX — Matt Harvey spent the days leading into his Wednesday start absorbed with video, particularly clips of his arm angle from his dominant years.
The former Mets ace may have found something, but he barely survived the early innings at Chase Field before rebounding for a semi-respectable outing.
“Overall I felt much better today and probably the best I have in two years, so it’s definitely a positive,” Harvey said after allowing three earned runs on six hits and four walks over 5 ¹/₃ innings in the Mets’ 5-4 loss to the Diamondbacks in 11 innings. “I take a lot of things I did today as positive, but there’s a few pitches I wish I had back.”
Harvey kept his fastball in the 96-97 mph range for much of the afternoon, but his location was an issue. Jake Lamb hammered a 97-mph heater for a two-run homer in the third that put the Mets in a 3-2 hole. The homer was the 11th surrendered by Harvey this season in only 45 ¹/₃ innings.
The highlight of Harvey’s day was twice striking out Paul Goldschmidt on three pitches.
“You get a guy up like that who can hit the ball any way and out of the park you really have to focus on making your pitches.” Harvey said. “Obviously I wish I could do what I did against him for more of the hitters I faced today, but overall it was definitely a successful day on my end and I’ve just got to keep working.”
Harvey, who missed the second half of last season after undergoing surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, has gone winless since April 11.
“Last year was a tough one, not feeling your hand and having to change your mechanics completely — it’s never easy,” Harvey said. “This year I had two good games in the beginning and kind of felt a lot of last year sort of creeping back into my outings. We have watched a lot of video and really worked hard on getting things back to my mechanics, which were so successful in 2013.”