Jacob deGrom continued to be back to form on Thursday night against the St. Louis Cardinals. Just as things have seemed to be looking up for himself, it was more of the same for Jake as the bullpen gave up a 4-2 lead in the ninth inning, leaving the game at a suspended 4-4 tie due to rain and robbing him of a win.
DeGrom, 30, put together his third consecutive quality start, tossing seven innings while allowing just two runs on six hits, walking none and striking out eight. It was an overall impressive start for deGrom.
Though he only gave up the two runs, deGrom showed great frustration on a particular play. With two outs in the third inning, Matt Carpenter stepped up to the plate as the defense played the shift. On a 3-2 pitch, deGrom got the ground ball he wanted, but it made it through the shift, scoring what was the tying run at that point of the game for St. Louis.
A frustrated deGrom after completing that inning, slammed his glove twice against the walls in the dugout, visibly upset on what transpired on the field. He would speak of that moment after Thursday’s game was suspended.
“You make a pitch and feel like it’s an out and nobody’s there, I was frustrated,’’ deGrom said. “I think anybody would be, the goal is not to give up runs. I thought I was out of the inning. All that goes to why I was frustrated. I thought I made a pitch and I beat him and it just went to where nobody was at.’’
DeGrom did admit to understanding the reasoning as to why the defense utilized the shift against Carpenter at that point in the game.
“I did go in and look and he does not hit the ball there very often, I think it’s been a year since he hit a ground ball to short, so I think that’s the mindset behind it,’’ deGrom said.
[cpm-player skin=”classic-skin” width=”100%” playlist=”true” type=”audio”] [cpm-item file=”https://metsmerizedonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/New-Recording-2.m4a”]jacob degrom postgame[/cpm-item] [/cpm-player]
Thursday night was just another game on a long list in which the reigning CY Young award winner was let down by his teammates. Whether it be the offense or the bullpen, it just seems deGrom can never catch a break.
DeGrom has now allowed two runs or less in five consecutive starts on the year as record stays at 3-6 while he lowered his ERA to 3.38 with a WHIP of 1.13. He has now struck out 102 batters in 82.2 innings pitched this season and became the eighth pitcher in franchise history to reach 1,100 strikeouts.
