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The Walk Off: Steven Matz picks up baton dropped by Matt Harvey

Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we'll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.

 

The New York Mets are facing a conundrum of epic proportions thanks to the struggles of Matt Harvey. For now, the Mets say he's staying in the rotation, but there has been no shortage of debate concerning what the Mets are doing or should do to get Harvey back on track.

Fortunately for the Mets, a situation that's become a five-alarm fire in the media is producing more smoke than actual fire in terms of their starting rotation. That's because they not only have Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom serving as legit aces every five days, but also because Steven Matz has essentially stepped right into the position everyone expected Harvey to occupy.

[Roundtable: What should the Mets do with Matt Harvey?]

Mets starter Steven Matz pitched up his seventh straight win in a 2-0 victory against the Nationals. (AP)
Mets starter Steven Matz pitched up his seventh straight win in a 2-0 victory against the Nationals. (AP)

That continued on Wednesday, as Matz handcuffed the same Washington Nationals lineup — sans Bryce Harper — that torched Harvey in his worst career outing last Thursday at Citi Field and again for three home runs on Tuesday. Matz limited Washington to four hits and one walk over eight scoreless innings to lead New York to a 2-0 victory and pick up his seventh straight winning decision.

Those are the results of a pitcher who is locked in, with Mike Puma of the New York Post even calling Matz the anti-Harvey.

Matz, who brings high expectations with him as well, has given the Mets a needed pick-me-up by proving he's ready to be a bulldog right now. He even garnered some high praise from Pedro Martinez.

Matz's explosion is a positive development. Now just imagine if they can get Harvey on track, and even Zack Wheeler back healthy.

TOP PERFORMERS

Jackie Bradley Jr.: The streak lives on! Jackie Bradley Jr. extended his hitting streak to 29 games with a fourth-inning single in Boston's 10-3 win against the Rockies. If Bradley Jr. can make it 30 on Thursday, he'll join Dom DiMaggio (34 games), Nomar Garciaparra (30) and Tris Speaker (30) as the only players in club history to reach that mark.

Adam Lind: This is how you know you're having a good night.

Lind finished 4-for-4 with six RBIs. His night included a solo homer in the second and a three-run shot in the third. He later added a run-scoring single in the fifth,and an RBI double in the seventh. Seattle also got home runs from Robinson Cano (14th) and Nelson (10th) as they dismantled the A's 13-3.

[Elsewhere: Alex Rodriguez is bat-flipping his way back to the Yankees]

Russell Martin: The veteran catcher entered play on Wednesday in a season-long slump, hitting just .172 without a home run in Toronto's first 47 games. Martin's power outage has been somewhat startling considering he hit a career-best 23 last season, but maybe he's finally turned the page. In Toronto's 8-4 win against the Yankees, Martin homered twice and drove in three runs to pace the Blue Jays attack.

Jake Peavy: Aside from Matt Harvey, no starter needed a good outing more than San Francisco's Jake Peavy. He got it on Wednesday, limiting his former team, the San Diego Padres, to one run on four hits over 6 2/3 innings. Peavy lowered his ERA to 7.26, but remains stuck on one win after taking a no-decision. The Giants went on to win 4-3 on Brandon Crawford's walk-off single in the 10th, completing the three-game sweep.

MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT

The Rangers have some strong young men on their ballclub. In addition to Joey Gallo being back and Adrian Beltre still being awesome, they also have rookie Nomar Mazara. On Wednesday, he jacked this 491-foot blast in the Rangers 15-9 win against the Angels, which makes it the longest home run in MLB this season.

THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD

Indians 4, White Sox 3: The White Sox grip on first place is slipping away. They hold just a half-game lead over Cleveland after dropping their third straight to Cleveland on Wednesday.

Phillies 8, Tigers 5: Philadelphia avoided a three-game sweep at Comerica Park thanks largely to Odubel Herrera's three-run homer in the fourth. Potential All-Star Jeanmar Gomez pitched the ninth to earn his 17th save.

Twins 7, Royals 5: Minnesota picks up win No. 12 on the strength of home runs from Eduardo Nunez, Brian Dozier and Miguel Sano.

Cubs 9, Cardinals 8: It wasn't pretty, but that's 23 straight regular season wins in games started by Jake Arrieta. That ties an MLB record.

Pirates 5, Diamondbacks 4: After a contentious game on Tuesday, things settled down into a well-played game here. Pittsburgh emerged victorious thanks to a four-run fifth highlighted by David Freese's two-run homer.

[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now] 

Marlins 4, Rays 3: With the slumping Giancarlo Stanton sitting, Miami rode the hot bat of Marcell Ozuna to victory. Ozuna picked up two hits, raising his average this month to .426, while knocking in two runs.

Astros 4, Orioles 3: After being swept by Texas over the weekend, the Astros have bounce back with two one-run wins over the Orioles.  Luis Valbuena provided the difference maker with a solo homer in the sixth.

Brewers 3, Braves 2 (13 innings): As the clock struck midnight in Atlanta, the Braves continued being the Braves. They are now 2-19 in their final season at Turner Field.

Dodgers 3, Reds 1: Los Angeles completes the three-game sweep behind Scott Kazmir, who allowed one run on four hits, while striking out 12 over six innings.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!