Jacob deGrom joined an exclusive club after his victory against the Atlanta Braves Saturday night. In the last decade, only four Mets pitchers have won 15 or more games in a season.
Bartolo Colon had 15 in 2014 and 2016, Mike Pelfrey accomplished the feat with 15 wins of his own in 2010, Johan Santana recorded 16 wins in 2008 and deGrom’s opposition on Saturday, R.A. Dickey, had 20 during his Cy Young award season in 2012.
“Honestly wasn’t even thinking about it,” deGrom said of the feat.”When I go out there, I want to keep us in a position to win and what I tried to do tonight.”
But it wasn’t the only milestone the right-hander surpassed. With the seven innings deGrom fired tonight, he now has 195 1/3 on the season, shattering his previous career mark of 191 regular season frames back in 2015.
His goal of reaching the 200 inning plateau is well within site, as he should easily accomplish it in his next outing.
“I think so, as you get ready for next year, hopefully we’re healthy and we want to go to a World Series again, so getting this amount of innings is something I want to do in the next few years,” deGrom said. “Getting there and seeing what it’s like is definitely a big plus.”
The 29-year-old was staked to a 5-0 lead before surrendering a solo shot to Freddie Freeman in the sixth inning.
It was the lone blemish against the Florida native, who punched out seven while scattering five hits and the one run across seven strong innings.
DeGrom, had struggled mightily in his past six starts, posting a 5.35 ERA (22 earned runs/37.0 innings) while going 1-4, but he returned to vintage fashion against Atlanta.
“He’s got two starts left, and I hope he wins them both because it would be great to look up and see him with a lot of wins on the board,” manager Terry Collins said.
