Zebby Matthews exits start with foot laceration

Matthews gave up four hits, walked one and struck out seven. He improved to 4-5 with the win. Matthews allowed a solo home run to Cam Smith in the fifth inning, but that was it for the Astros while he was in the game. The 26-year-old right-hander has a 4.15 ERA after an excellent start. He’s lined up to face the Yankees on the road this weekend.

Matthews gave up six hits, walked two and struck out five. He fell to 3-5 with the loss. Matthews has completed at least six innings and allowed two runs or less in three of his last four starts. He has a 4.56 ERA. Matthews is lined up to face the Rockies at home this weekend.

Matthews had a 10-0 lead through 3 1/2 innings, and he managed to keep this one uninteresting despite giving up eight hits and nine hard-hit balls. It’s his fifth quality start in seven tries since getting the call last month. Unfortunately, he was lit up for seven runs in both of his other outings, leaving him with a 4.78 ERA. He’s not a great option in shallow leagues at this point, but those hunting wins could try him in his two home starts next week. The first will come against the Dodgers, but at least it’ll be Eric Lauer opposing him, and he’ll get the Rockies in his second start.

The Twins didn’t really need to send him back out there after he allowed three runs in the fourth, but he absorbed some more punishment to save the bullpen. Matthews’ velocity was down a tick or two across the board, and it showed mostly in his fastball as batters missed just 1-of-15 swings against it. He allowed 10 hard-hit balls. Matthews is a fringe streamer in his next start against the Rangers in a good pitcher’s park, but it’s really only that context that keeps us interested.

Matthews gave up two runs to the Royals in the first inning on a walk and two doubles. He then settled in nicely, going six more scoreless innings. He scattered two more hits and three more walks, striking out two. The 26-year-old right-hander will take a 4.15 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and a 26/8 K/BB ratio across 30 1/3 innings into a start against the Tigers in Detroit on Wednesday.

The young right-hander struck out seven and walked two, raising his ERA from 2.37 to 4.63 on the year. Matthews had pitched well across three starts in his return to the big leagues, continuing to throw strikes and not allowing many free passes. Home runs have been an issue, and he allowed two more on Sunday to Ryan O’Hearn and Nick Gonzales. Matthews had been throwing his curve more than last year, and he’s an important pitcher to track for any adjustments. He next lines up for a home start against the Royals.

He struck out six and walked one. All three runs came on homers from Munetaka Murakami and Drew Romo in the first two innings. Very encouraging was that Matthews averaged 96.2 mph with his fastball today. He was at 94.8 mph in his season debut 11 days ago, but he boosted that to 95.8 mph last time out and got it even higher today. If he stays in this territory, he should offer some mixed league value, though he’ll contribute more in WHIP and in strikeouts than in ERA. He’ll next face the Pirates on Saturday.

Matthews also struck out six and didn’t walk a batter while throwing 66 percent of his pitches for strikes. His four-seamer was one mph faster than we saw in his first outing, and his vertical movement seems to be up from last season. He also seems to have tweaked all of his secondary pitches. His curveball seems brand new, coming in three mph slower than last year with six inches more horizontal movement. It had just a six percent swinging strike rate, so it might not have been the best change. His slider and cutter are both also slower this year, but the cutter has less break, so he may be creating more differentiation between the two. The results have been good, but the arsenal remains questionable. We’d be OK adding him, but it’s a bit of a stiffer test against a surging White Sox lineup next week.

Matthews’ 2026 debut couldn’t have gone much better, as he struck out five and walked one in a breezy 83-pitch outing. That his velocity is still down about 1.5 mph from last year makes him quite a bit less intriguing as a fantasy option. Still, his new, intentionally slower curveball worked well today, generating a 46 percent CSW and one very weak groundout the 13 times he threw it. He should stick around and face the Astros next week.

This was announced yesterday and is now official. Matthews will get a chance to hold down Taj Bradley’s spot in the rotation while Bradley is out with a pectoral strain. Matthews was a fantasy darling last season, but he struggled in 16 starts for the Twins and has posted a 4.72 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, and 33/11 K/BB ratio across 34 1/3 innings over seven starts for Triple-A St. Paul this season. We’d leave him on waiver wires for now.