The Mets can’t win every game, but with the “sun king” Jacob deGrom on the mound (1.68 daytime ERA), it seemed like the Mets were poised for another victory Sunday afternoon. But despite a gutsy effort from their ace, the Mets fell short with a 7-4 loss to the Nationals and snapped their eight game win streak.

Although the first inning got away from deGrom with three unearned runs, he recovered quickly. His rocky first inning elevated his pitch count, and prevented him from going deep into the game – but he would not allow another run, as he struck out seven batters and allowed just four hits in five innings. The outing lowered his ERA to 2.68 on the season.

“Jacob battled hard today,” Callaway said to reporters. “[ He] didn’t have his best stuff, but man did he battle.”

The Nationals meant business after losing the first two games of the series in heartbreaking fashion. Washington’s speedster, Trea Turner, led off with an infield single. It seemed like deGrom would work around the leadoff hit, but the Nationals’ All-Star third baseman, and Met-Killer, Anthony Rendon, had other plans.

Rendon smacked deGrom’s offering into right field, just out of the reach of Jeff McNeil. A walk to Juan Soto loaded the bases, but the inning wouldn’t fall apart until former Met, Asdrubal Cabrera, stepped up to the plate with two outs.

Three runners would score on a wild play that started with ground ball to Pete Alonso. DeGrom tried to cover first base, but he didn’t catch Alonso’s throw. DeGrom then tried to get the third runner out at home, but Wilson Ramos didn’t field deGrom’s throw in dirt cleanly. Alonso was charged with the error, so all the runs were unearned.

“I just need to hit him in the chest,” Pete Alonso said to reporters about the play. “If I make that play, we are probably still playing baseball right now.”

After that mess of an inning, the deGrom was able to reign it in for the next four innings. DeGrom breezed through the second inning with a pair of strikeouts and a fly out.

The Mets’ ace would help his own cause with a bunt single to load the bases in the second inning for Jeff McNeil. McNeil hit a double that tied it 3-3, which made it a whole new game for deGrom.

With four more strikeouts and some help from his defense, deGrom continued to hold the Nationals to three runs for the day in five innings pitched. Overall, it was another well performed outing in the books for the reigning 2018 NL Cy Young Award winner.

It appeared throughout the game that deGrom wasn’t as ‘on’ as he has been in years past, but as fans have seen him do time and time again, is work through his outings. Despite a few bumps in the road with three outings of giving up five or more runs, deGrom is having another incredible season. He has 11 starts this season going seven innings or more giving up three earned runs or less, and eight starts going five or six innings giving up three earned runs or less.

The ERA may not reflect a Cy Young season, in comparison to the successes of veteran Hyun-Jin Ryu, rookie Mike Soroka, and Max Scherzer, but if we take away those three ‘un-deGrom-like’ starts, he is pitching to a sub-two ERA at 1.80.  With Ryu just returning from the IL for his start Sunday (7IP, 0ER, 5H, 4Ks, BB) and Scherzer still on the IL, with a mild rhomboid strain in his back, deGrom has been able to play catch up here. Is it likely he can surpass the front runners in Ryu and Soroka? Not very, but “Ya Gotta Believe!”