NEW YORK _ Matt Harvey arrived at Citi Field on Thursday afternoon wearing a stylish trench coat worthy of a stroll through SoHo. Hours later, when the Mets righty took the mound, he left the top two buttons of his blue uniform top undone.
He seemed determined to make his first start since thoracic outlet surgery look like business as usual. But once he threw the first pitch in a 6-2 victory against the Braves, it was clear that things were different.
If Harvey weathers this storm, if he can tame big-league hitters while he waits for his fastball to come all the way back, he will follow the formula that he laid out Thursday night. That's when he leaned on a pitcher's most trusted weapons to win his first outing since July 4.
In 6 2/3 innings, Harvey changed speeds and used his slider to keep the Braves honest. He allowed two runs and three hits. Two were solo shots by Matt Kemp, both on 94-mph fastballs that caught far too much of the plate. But these were the only mistakes.
The other hit was on a swinging bunt from Nick Markakis, who was fooled so badly on a curveball that all he could do was dribble it down the line with the end of his bat. This was more emblematic of a night in which Harvey looked comfortable as a slightly diminished version of himself. He struck out only four, a reflection of his reliance on sliders and changeups. But aside from Kemp, the Braves managed only soft contact.
"He can pitch with whatever his velocity is right now if he commands his pitches," manager Terry Collins said before Harvey did precisely that, helping the Mets win their first series of the season.
After Kemp's homer in the fifth, the Mets came to the plate having scored in only two of the first 24 innings they had played in 2017. They were being shut out by Jaime Garcia, the first of three left-handers they were scheduled to face.
Then the Mets came to life. Travis d'Arnaud ripped a double into the gap in left-center to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. In the sixth, lefty-killer Wilmer Flores lived up to his reputation with a two-run blast, his first of the year, to make it 4-1.
In the seventh, after the Braves cut it to 4-2, the Mets answered with two runs. They had scored in three consecutive innings, easing concerns of an offense that had stumbled from the gates.
But Harvey did the most to quell any lingering questions at the beginning of the season, and he did so under challenging circumstances. Rain poured for most of the afternoon, though as game time neared, the deluge ceased and the clouds cleared out. While the chill remained, the game could be played, under conditions better than expected.
Harvey's journey toward first pitch took on similar contours. When he began spring training, Harvey's fastball hovered in the low 90s, and the Mets braced for a long wait until the end of May. That's when they could expect an uptick in velocity. But Harvey's outings improved, his velocity gained life, and just like the weather Thursday night, Harvey emerged better than expected.
The first time through the order, Harvey faced the minimum because he pounded the zone and did not shy from contact. Through three innings he needed just 24 pitches, 19 for strikes. His fastball touched 95 mph, still not in the high 90s, but good enough to challenge big-league hitters.
Of course, velocity buys leeway, and without it Harvey got punished for his mistakes. Kemp's homers came on fastballs cursed with poor location. But Harvey worked around this, too, by avoiding those mistakes.
He was pulled after 77 pitches, with two outs and a two-run lead in the seventh. It was a conservative move by Collins, who was glad not to push his luck. Harvey already had shown that with command, he could still handcuff big-league hitters. For Collins and the Mets, this was more than enough.
