Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
It was “deGrom day” at Citi Field on Sunday as Jacob deGrom was back on the mound for his second start of the 2022 season since returning from the injured list last week and his first appearance on the mound at Citi Field in 396 days.
Picking up right where he left off, deGrom struck out 12 over the course of 5 and 2/3 innings pitched.
DeGrom was perfect through five innings on Sunday. No hits, no runs, no walks, ten strikeouts.
It wasn’t until the sixth inning when deGrom gave up just two earned runs on one hit, a two-run home run to Dansby Swanson. That was the only mistake deGrom made on Sunday as the Mets came away with a 5-2 win over the Braves. He was credited with his first win of the season.
DeGrom’s day was done, but they were immaculate and near perfect. All of his pitches were playing and his velocity was up from his first outing. He struck out Matt Olson on a 101.6 MPH fastball, touched 102 MPH on his fastball, and his slider touched 95 and 96 MPH as well as his stuff was commanding and playing very well.
Not only did deGrom dominate, but he put on a show as he made MLB history. With 1,521 career strikeouts, he has the most strikeouts ever by a pitcher in their first 200 major league games. He also has the second most double-digit strikeout games (54) in Mets history.
Of those 200 career starts, in 146 of them, he has not allowed more than two earned runs; in 106 of them, he has not allowed more than one earned run.
DeGrom spoke with the media following his return outing to Citi Field. He said he was “a little bit emotional” walking out onto the field Sunday afternoon, saying he took a second to take it all in and then tried to focus on pitching after that.
Many of his teammates spoke about his performance.
Pete Alonso called deGrom’s outing “incredible.”
“I’m super happy that he’s feeling healthy. He had some incredible, incredible moments today.” Said Alonso. He continued to praise their ace, saying he was dominant from the start. “He did an incredible job for us throwing up a ton of zeros.”
Brandon Nimmo also spoke on deGrom’s performance.
“You just feel bad for whoever has to face him,” said Nimmo. “He’s throwing 101, 102 up, a 95 MPH slider, and he’s locating everything. He’s primed and ready to go.” In talking about his ability to come back after a year of being shut down, Nimmo said deGrom is “unbelievably talented and unbelievably motivated,” saying his competitive nature fuels his desire to want to be the best.
The Mets took four of five games from the Braves this weekend and many credit the pitching and the return of Scherzer and deGrom, along with the energy from the fans, for fueling the electric weekend in New York.
