Zebby Matthews diagnosed with flexor strain

The Giants had a nice little .538 BABIP against Matthews tonight, which doesn’t count Drew Gilbert’s homer in the fifth. Matthews has been pretty much all or nothing these last two months; he’s allowed one or no runs four times and four or more runs in the remainder of his nine starts. This leaves him 9-11 with a 4.90 ERA with likely one start remaining Sunday against Texas.

Matthews allowed just two hits on the afternoon. He was in line for the win before Yoendrys Gómez blew the save in the ninth, though the Twins went on to win 5-4 in 13 innings. The 26-year-old righty was hit hard last time out against Detroit, but this was his fourth gem over his past six starts. Inconsistency has been one of the themes of his year, but he’ll look to finish strong on the road against the Giants in his next scheduled start.

Matthews had some unusual control issue today, walking four of the 13 hitters he faced. The first three batters who walked all came around to score. The fourth didn’t, but that was a bases-loaded walk that forced in a run. Matthews had been 5-1 with a 3.50 ERA and seven walks in six starts since the beginning of August. He’s probably not going to be worth using in mixed leagues against the Yankees next week.

The Zebster allowed three homers, the longest a two-run shot by Colson Montgomery that made it 4-0 in the fourth inning. He just wasn’t missing many bats, with a 15 percent whiff rate, while the White Sox had four hard-hit balls off his four-seamer. It snaps a nice run of starts for Matthews as he’d been 5-0 with a 2.90 ERA in August while striking out 24 and allowing just three homers. He’ll look to get back on track next week against the Tigers.

The lone run came in the ninth after Matthews gave up singles to two of the three batters he faced. Jeff Hoffman came in and allowed an RBI single before finishing the game. Matthews struck out five. He finished with a subpar 21 percent CSW and gave up 10 hard-hit balls, so it wasn’t really a dominant outing. It was an awfully effective one, though, and it should help ensure that he sticks in the rotation after Joe Ryan returns. He’ll face the White Sox again next weekend.

Matthews gave up six hits, walked one and struck out seven. He improved to 8-8 with the win. Matthews is 4-0 with a 3.65 ERA in four starts in August. He has a 4.86 ERA on the year. Matthews is lined up to face the White Sox at home on Sunday.

Matthews gave up five hits, walked one and struck out four. He improved to 7-8 with the win. Matthews has suddenly won his last three starts. He has a 5.12 ERA this year. Matthews is lined up to face the Athletics on the road next week.

Dylan Beavers’ three-run homer in the third was the big blow. However, the Twins immediately picked him up with four runs in the bottom of the inning and had a 7-4 lead when he departed after five. It’s Matthews’ second straight win after he went 0-3 in five starts in July. He’ll take a 5.34 ERA into his next start against the Braves.

Matthews noticed the issue while warming up prior to the sixth inning, which prompted a visit from the training staff and his eventual removal. It doesn’t sound like anything that should require a trip to the injured list, but be sure to monitor his status over the next couple of days to be on the safe side.

Matthews gave up a solo homer to Jackson Chourio in the bottom of the first inning and allowed three more runs to come across to score in the second inning as the Twins quickly found themselves down 4-0. The Twins would battle back and eventually give Matthews a 6-4 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, but he would run into a bit of trouble when he loaded the bases with no outs to begin the frame. He would get Jake Bauers to hit into a sacrifice fly to retire his first batter of the frame, and forced Williams Contreras to fly out as well. Unfortunately, Garrett Mitchell would leg out an infield single on the next at-bat to draw the game even at 6-6. Matthews would make it through the inning, but was pulled while warming up in the sixth inning after trainers came out to speak with him on the mound. We don’t yet know the specifics of his injury, but this undoubtedly puts his next scheduled start, which is set for Wednesday against the Orioles, in jeopardy.