It was a day of firsts for Jacob deGrom, although perhaps not his best in the Mets’ 3-1 loss to Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants. DeGrom walked four batters for the first time since June 12, 2017. His 42.6% fastball rate was his lowest figure since June 30 of this season, and his average velocity of 95.6 mph was his lowest since that day as well.

Even with his struggles, however, deGrom managed to churn out yet another quality start (his 18th in a row), striking out ten and allowing just two runs (one earned) on four hits, keeping his season ERA at 1.71.

Truth be told, deGrom really shouldn’t have been charged with any earned runs. This narrative has come into the equation several times this year, but it’s hard to question the conditions when they ultimately leave deGrom visibly frustrated on the mound. With two outs and Austin Slater on first in the fourth inning, the righty threw an 0-2 fastball to Nick Hundley that very clearly caught the inside corner. Home plate umpire Tony Randazzo didn’t make a call, however, and the entire Met lineup, deGrom included, had to put the walk back towards the dugout on hold.

Hundley would take three more offspeed pitches outside the strike zone to prolong the inning, and Slater would come around to score on the ensuing double by Bumgarner. As he headed behind home plate to back up a potential throw, deGrom began barking at Randazzo, pointing at the strike zone as he stomped back towards the mound.

A strikeout of Hundley would have ended the inning, and for that Randazzo is technically to blame. This is not to say, however, that deGrom didn’t wear a collar of his own in losing Hundley despite getting ahead 0-2. Devin Mesoraco botching a fastball with Joe Panik at third and two outs (the one unearned run) was pretty much entirely out of deGrom’s control, but a leadoff walk that put Panik aboard in the first place was nonetheless a concerning aspect of his afternoon. He still needed 21 pitches (just 13 strikes) to navigate the frame and entered the fifth inning at 75 (just 28 fastballs thrown).

“I was frustrated,” deGrom said after the game regarding the missed call from Randazzo. “I still gotta make pitches there, and I wasn’t able to do it.”

DeGrom’s last two innings of work were nonetheless his most efficient, and perhaps his most clutch for that matter. True to his mechanism of focusing and firing his way out of the weeds, the righty put faith back into the fastball, using it on 18 of his next 33 pitches as his velocity rose to a more familiar 96-97 mph. He started the fifth by fooling Andrew McCutchen with a wicked changeup and ended it by blowing a fastball past Evan Longoria to cap off a 14-pitch, 12-strike inning.

The renaissance seemed short-lived after deGrom walked Brandon Belt to begin the sixth inning, but almost as if on cue, the ace torched his next three hitters, winning a six-pitch battle against Slater before fanning Hundley and Brandon Crawford on two four-pitch at-bats, each one ending on an empty hack at a 97 mph fastball.

With his 26th start in the books, deGrom, despite being 8-8, extended his unofficial streak of keeping his team in the game, notching his eighth double-digit strikeout performance of the year. For those interested, Aaron Nola has just five this year. Max Scherzer has 13, but has also posted a 1.29 WHIP and 2.45 ERA in that time, as opposed to deGrom’s 1.00 and 1.64 figures that actually account for 11 more innings of work despite the disparity in games started. Even on a day marred by some lackluster control in a particularly slow first few innings, Jacob deGrom continues to build on his bid for the NL Cy Young.

deGrom Quick Hits

  • Was his 18th straight quality start, the second longest streak in Mets history and longest active streak in the majors.
  • Has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his last 23 starts, one shy of tying the franchise record set by Doc Gooden in 1985.
  • Today was his eighth double-digit strikeout game of the season, his fourth in his last seven starts and the 29th time of his career.