Stat Line: 7.1 IP, 2 R, 9 K’s, 0 BB, No Decision
Jacob deGrom’s stat line doesn’t do him any justice in breaking down his outing from last night. DeGrom picked up where he left off, extending his scoreless innings streak to 15 before leaving last night’s game in the eighth inning with base runners on first and second base. Those base runners eventually came around to score after Hansel Robles gave up a bases clearing triple to Cesar Hernandez.
DeGrom pitched very similar to his last outing, getting ahead and locating with a 97 mph fastball while also showing the ability to locate his cut-fastball (cutter), slider, curveball and changeup in the strike zone. The one noticeable difference was his pitch selection as deGrom threw more off-speed pitches and cutters.
Additionally, deGrom used all of his pitches in nearly every location of the strike zone to create the outs. It is unusual but impressive for a pitcher to use more than their one or two “go-to out” pitches to induce outs late in counts. This is evidence that deGrom is not only locating all of his pitches but that his pitches have sharp, late movement to stay low in the strike zone and evade the barrel of the opposing hitters bat.
To better understand the variance in deGrom’s pitches, I have created a bold list showing most of deGrom’s out pitches during the course of his outing:
First Inning
Ryan Howard grounds out on slider located low and outside.
Second Inning
Maikel Franco strikes out swinging on changeup located low and inside.
Chase Utley strikes out swinging on changeup located low and over the plate.
Odubel Herrera strikes out swinging on 98 mph fastball located low and outside.
Third Inning
Carlos Ruiz strikes out looking on slider located low and over the plate.
Jerome Williams strikes out swinging on 95 mph fastball located low and outside.
Ben Revere grounds out softly on 97 mph fastball located away.
Fourth Inning
Freddy Galvis strikes out looking on 97 mph fastball located on outside corner.
Utley flies out to left field on changeup low and over the plate.
Howard strikes out swinging on 97 mph fastball located letter high and outside.
Fifth Inning
Franco grounds out to shortstop on 94 mph fastball located belt high and outside.
Ruiz grounds out to second baseman on curveball low and over the plate.
Sixth Inning
Revere grounds out with a broken bat softly to third baseman on 96 mph fastball located belly button high and inside.
Utley pops up to third baseman on cutter low and over the plate.
Seventh Inning
Howard strikes out swinging on slider located low and outside.
Grady Sizemore strikes out swinging on 97 mph fastball located low and outside.
Eighth Inning
Herrera flies out to left field on 94 mph fastball located low and outside.
