Harvey gets 'feet wet' in 1st start since July surgery

Things may not have gone exactly to plan on Sunday for Matt Harvey in his first start since having a rib removed last July to correct thoracic outlet syndrome, but the New York Mets right-hander was still happy to get back out on the hill.

Harvey was roughed up by the St. Louis Cardinals at First Delta Field, allowing four earned runs on four hits across 1 2/3 innings. He did strike out three, however.

"It's been eight months since I played another team, so the biggest thing was going out there and trying to get my mechanics back," Harvey told reporters, including MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. "You can't really get to where you want to be unless you're facing hitters. Today was kind of my first step of getting my feet wet in game action, and I thought it went pretty well."

Harvey cruised through the game's opening inning before running into trouble in the second, but he did manage to hit 94 mph on the radar gun, averaging between 90-93 mph with his fastball, and he felt like his off-speed pitches were sharp.

This is fantastic news for the Mets, who were without the 2013 All-Star for much of last season.

Prior to 2016, where he posted a 4-10 record with a 4.86 ERA during 17 starts, Harvey never registered an ERA above 2.73. He did miss the 2014 season recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Over the course of his career, the 27-year-old owns a 29-28 record with a 2.94 ERA and a strikeout rate of 9.1 hitters per nine innings.