Mar 29, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Steven Matz (32) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during the second inning at Busch Stadium. Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Rays Veteran Has Dominant Bounce Back Start Against Twins

Originally posted on Tampa Bay Rays on SI
By Kenneth Teape | Last updated Apr 5, 2026 7:00 AM ET

This past offseason, one of the positional groups that the Tampa Bay Rays were looking to add some reinforcements to was their starting rotation.

With Adrian Houser hitting free agency and signing a deal with the San Francisco Giants, there was an opening in the rotation. Starting pitching became an even bigger need when Shane Baz was traded to the Baltimore Orioles.

One of the players whom the Rays signed to help fill the voids in their rotation was Steven Matz. It was viewed as a bit of a risky move with the veteran lefty dealing with injuries and inconsistent performances as a starter, leading to him being moved to the bullpen for parts of the last four seasons.

But Tampa Bay was adamant from the start that Matz would be deployed as a starter at the beginning of the season. After a shaky first start with his new team, he put together a dominant second start against the Minnesota Twins.

Steven Matz shut down Twins in start

Matz kept them off balance in the afternoon, throwing 6.0 innings and allowing only two hits and two walks, resulting in one earned run on a Brooks Lee single. The most impressive part of his stat line? The eight strikeouts he recorded.

This was the longest outing that Matz has had since Aug. 12, 2023, when he threw at least six innings in four straight starts before going down with a season-ending injury. The eight strikeouts are the most since July 9, 2023, when he had nine.

Eating innings at the back end of the rotation is all the Rays are looking for from the veteran lefty. Thus far, he has proven capable of that, throwing at least five innings in each of his two starts out of the gate.

Steven Matz today:

6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
23% Whiff%
28% CSW%

Really strong start to the season for Matz. He limited hard contact (83.3 mph avg EV), stayed efficient, and looks to be transitioning back into a starting role seamlessly.#RaysUp #MLB pic.twitter.com/YgoJRAwdmb
— Off The Trop (@OffTheTrop) April 5, 2026

His performance against the Twins shows that he is still capable of putting up elite numbers from time to time. He is a high-upside backend option, and it will be interesting to see what kind of workload he has throughout the campaign.

2023 was the last time that he made at least 10 starts in a season and threw at least 100 innings. He may need some breaks throughout the marathon regular season, but Tampa Bay can rest a little easier knowing they have some excellent starting pitching depth in the organization.

If Matz’s innings need to be reeled in, the team knows he is more than capable of performing at a high level out of the bullpen. Hopefully, he is able to stay healthy and can start games for the duration of the year, still capable of getting the job done at a high level.

This article first appeared on Tampa Bay Rays on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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