The New York Mets (49-42) defeated the Philadelphia Phillies (42-49) by a score of 5-0 at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday afternoon. As of this writing the Nationals just tied the score 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth, a pinch-hit home run by Daniel Murphy. The Mets are seven games back and are looking to shave that down by a game.
Pitching:
DEGROMINATION! Jacob deGrom brought his “A game” today and was absolutely filthy as he tossed the first major league complete game of his career – a dominating one-hit shutout! The only hit deGrom allowed was to the opposing pitcher Zach Eflin.
In his nine inning gem, deGrom allowed just two baserunners, the other being a walk to Ryan Howard, and he struck out seven. The shutout had a Game Score of 97, the fifth highest game score in franchise history.
Offense:
In the top of the second inning, Juan Lagares put the Mets up 1-0. Lagares worked a real nice at-bat against Zach Eflin. With James Loney on second with two out, Juan Lagares tripled down the first base line to score the early run. Juan Lagares has done a real nice job filling in this series.
In the top of the third, Granderson tacked on with his 16th home run of the season to put the Mets up 2-0.
In the top of the fifth inning and two outs, Jacob deGrom was able to single to center fielder Odubel Herrera. Jose Reyes followed by cracking a double into the gap to bring him home. After Jose Reyes and Curtis Granderson successfully stole second and third, the Phillies pitched around Yoenis Cespedes to load the bases. Neil Walker, unfortunately, grounded out to end the inning.
The Mets offense still was not done. In the top of the eighth inning, James Loney ripped a single into right field with two outs. Asdrubal Cabrera followed with his 13th home run of the season to put the Mets up 5-0.
Notes:
Jacob deGrom becomes the first Met to pitch a complete game and allow one hit or fewer since R.A. Dickey did it on June 18th, 2012. He also became the first Mets pitcher to face only 28 batters in a nine-inning game since Zack Wheeler in 2014.
This was the first complete game for the Mets since Bartolo Colon was able to do it in September of last year.
Terry Collins mentioned before the game Yoenis Cespedes might need to play left field for a while until his quad is back to 100%.
Michael Conforto was held out of the lineup in Las Vegas today. Could a return be on the horizon?
JZ Player of the Game: Who else? DEGROM!
On Deck:
The Mets are heading to Chicago to take on the Cubs! The Mets will play their first game of a three-game set with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field tomorrow evening. The game has a start time of 7:05 PM. Steven Matz (7-5, 3.38 ERA) looks to keep the Mets rolling against Jon Lester (9-4, 3.01 ERA).
