Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

New York Mets entered Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates in need of some superb performances by key players, and that is exactly what they received from Chris Bassitt and Jacob deGrom.

The Mets have had a rough few days. The team’s loss to the Pirates on Tuesday allowed the Atlanta Braves to tie them for first place in the National League East for the first time this season. Furthermore, a few hours prior to gametime on Wednesday, the Mets placed Max Scherzer on the injured list for what he expects to be a minimum stay.

Bassitt was unfazed by the last few days and went about his job no differently than how he usually does. He held the Pirates to one run, one walk, and five hits across seven innings. He also struck out 10 batters, which was the second time he has reached double-digit strikeouts this season.

“If Max is 100 percent healthy, I still want to do what I did today,” said Bassitt when asked whether he put added pressure on himself in response to recent events surrounding the Mets. “I’m trying to go nine innings everytime I go out there.”

Bassitt has been a source of consistency for the Mets this season. His outing on Wednesday marked his 17th quality start of the season and his 21st start of six or more innings pitched, both career highs. The Mets have also won each of the last eight games that Bassitt has started for them.

Not to be outshined, deGrom took the mound for the second game of the doubleheader and had a fantastic start of his own.

DeGrom started off on the wrong foot as he gave up back-to-back singles to begin his outing. However, he followed that up by retiring the next 12 batters he faced. Overall deGrom pitched a dominant seven innings in which he racked up eight strikeouts and limited the Pirates to three hits and one walk.

“As soon as he got his feet on the ground after the first inning, he was Jake,” said Buck Showalter.

DeGrom has shown no rust in 2022 despite not pitching for over a year before making his first start of the season on August 2. In his seven starts this season he has gone 5-1 with a 1.66 ERA, 0.550 WHIP, and 63 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings.

One thing deGrom did differently against the Pirates was utilize his changeup at a much higher rate. In his first six starts, deGrom threw 486 pitches, with only 27 of them being changeups (5.6%). Against the Pirates, deGrom threw 91 pitches, with 14 of them being changeups (15.4%). With deGrom already finding great success in his first few starts this season despite using his changeup at a much lower rate than previous years, there still may be room for improvement going forward.

“I threw a lot of changeups,” said deGrom. “I haven’t had a great feel for it in my previous starts. Been working on it in between and I felt like my changeup was really good. I think I ended up throwing like 14 of them. That was a huge plus for me and definitely going to be a huge plus moving forward.”

Bassitt and deGrom provided exactly what the doctor ordered for the Mets at a critical time. Their combined 14 innings of one-run ball helped propel the Mets back into sole possession of first place in the National League East for the time being.