DeGrom Beats Early Hiccups in Record-Breaking Start

Jacob deGrom did not have his best stuff in last night’s 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Relative to his last six starts (43.2 innings, six earned runs, nine walks, 60 strikeouts), his six innings and six strikeouts didn’t quite blow his opponents out of the water as one could have hoped.

Even so, deGrom put a muzzle on a lineup that ranks first in the National League in homers and third in runs scored, allowing just one run and two hits. Confronted with the possibility of an early beatdown at the hands of a fierce offense, deGrom masterfully pitched to contact and, as the case has been all season, gave his team as good a chance to win as anybody could have asked for.

The lone run came across on a Justin Turner home run in the bottom of the first inning, but the damages certainly could have been worse. DeGrom threw just 10 of his 19 pitches that inning for strikes and got all three of his outs on fly balls. He first stumbled off of an 0-2 count against Joc Pederson, running it full before a loud flyout to right. Each of the next three hitters (Turner, Manny Machado, and Max Muncy) were given 2-0 counts to play with, with only Turner making anything of his at-bat.

“That home run to Turner I was trying to go [inside],” deGrom said. “That whole first inning I was kind of yanking the ball, so I left that one over the middle, so I was conscious of that and after that just tried to focus on the glove and hit my spots.”

DeGrom rebounded with a nine-pitch second inning that, despite zero strikeouts, still saw three weaker outs on popups to the left side of the infield thanks to a good changeup and an upstairs fastball that had immediately improved from the prior inning. The liftoff stalled in the third, however, as deGrom lost Yasiel Puig to a leadoff walk and let him steal second with Alex Wood, the pitcher, at the plate.

The righty went back to his curveball and slider to beat Wood on strikes and force a 4-3 groundout from Pederson, and from that point on ran with his fastball, forcing Turner into an 0-2 corner before pulling a string on him with a filthy slider away to end the inning. The narrative of finding his comfort zone and rolling through repeated itself again in the fourth, as deGrom overcame a leadoff single by twirling a slider to Muncy and getting a double play before challenging and beating Alex Verdugo inside with four 96 mph fastballs (the last being lined at Amed Rosario to retire the side).

The Mets again did next to nothing in support of their star pitcher, with deGrom’s own RBI hit to right field accounting for the only team run on his watch. Even having pulled ahead on a ninth-inning home run from Brandon Nimmo, the Mets put just two men in scoring position through deGrom’s first six innings.

What’s more, deGrom’s personal catcher, Devin Mesoraco had left the game earlier in the top half after aggravating a neck injury. Now forced to alter his game plan, deGrom again found himself pitching against both the opposing lineup and the circumstances surrounding him.

The Dodgers again bit into deGrom’s pitch count in a 19-pitch fifth inning, but were nonetheless silenced – this time by his fastball. Things began with the ace falling behind Cody Bellinger 2-0, but ended seven pitches later as he struck him out with a 98 two-seamer fresh from hell. Todd Frazier bobbled a Puig grounder with two outs to prolong the inning, but deGrom, as he has all year, used it as a chance to register another strikeout. And he did just that, fanning pinch-hitter Andrew Toles on three fastballs.

DeGrom threw 34 pitches in the sixth inning as Los Angeles did everything in its power to crack him, and the defense again cheated him out of an out after Rosario misplayed a one-out grounder to spoil a 12-pitch at-bat against Turner that had appeared all but won. Even then, he still struck out Pederson and Machado with offspeed pitches to conclude a pair of seven-pitch at-bats before retiring Muncy on another grounder on another slider. He threw 109 pitches – 75 for strikes.

Maintaining his MLB-leading ERA of 1.68, deGrom turned in his ninth start having allowed one or fewer runs through six or more innings, the most in a single season in MLB history.

DeGrom also became the first pitcher since 1913 (over 50 years before mounds were first lowered) to allow three or fewer runs in 25 or more consecutive starts over a single season, passing Dwight Gooden‘s 24 in the famed 1985 Cy Young campaign that ushered in a new era of Met dominance in the National League. Gooden went 24-4 that year. Jacob deGrom is 8-8.

“Any time you are mentioned with players like that it is nice to hear,” deGrom said following the game. “It’s an honor. We love playing this game and that is how I take the mound. I just want to go out there, give it my best and put this team in a position to win.”