Jacob deGrom suffered his first loss of the season on Thursday night against the San Diego Padres who beat the New York Mets by a score of 5-3.
DeGrom allowed a season-high three earned runs on eight hits and a walk in five innings, including a first-inning home run to Wil Myers. The homer snapped a 39 inning homerless streak that went back to last September. He struck out just two batters.
“No excuses,” said deGrom. “I just wasn’t very good tonight. I don’t even know how many hits I gave up when I had guys with two strikes. I just couldn’t put them away, leaving the off-speed in the middle and giving them a chance, and at times throwing it not even close to the zone.”
After the game, DeGrom spoke with reporters and said he and pitching coach Dan Warthen reviewed some video and identified a mechanical flaw.
“I came in and watched some video right after I came out. Last year my elbow was above my shoulder. This year it’s not even getting close to above it, and my stride is toward the first-base side. I don’t know if you see how far I’m falling off toward first base. There’s some things to work on there. I definitely think so. I felt good coming out. I felt good in the bullpen. I think just sometimes when I get out there I try to do too much.”
Luckily, deGrom’s issue was not his velocity which ranged at 94-96 mph during his outing. With the loss, his record drops to 3-1 and his ERA and WHIP rises to 1.99 and 1.235 respectively in four starts this season. He believes the issue will be resolved prior to his next start on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
