New York Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom entered Sunday’s series finale in Miami with a 3.32 ERA, 26 strikeouts, five walks, and a 2.62 FIP over his last three starts (19 innings), and continued his dominance with a strong, albeit short, outing versus the Marlins.
Entering Sunday, deGrom’s 2.79 ERA since May 1 ranked 12th among qualified MLB starters and his 2.6 wins above replacement (FanGraphs) over that span is good for seventh among that same group. After some early inconsistencies, Jake has found his groove.
After being handed a 1-0 lead on Jeff McNeil‘s leadoff home run, deGrom worked around a two-out Garrett Cooper single in the first, striking out Miguel Rojas (well-inside 97 MPH four-seamer, called strike) and Brian Anderson (swinging at another well-placed four-seam) in the process.
The Marlins tied the game in the second, taking advantage of a leadoff single via Curtis Granderson and two walks issued by deGrom on Rojas’ two-out, bases-loaded RBI single. Granderson was nailed at the plate by McNeil to end the inning to leave two stranded.
DeGrom worked around a leadoff walk to Neil Walker in the third, setting down Cooper, Brian Anderson, and Starlin Castro to leave his former Mets teammate on base.
With a two-run cushion heading into the fourth courtesy of Adeiny Hechavarria (groundout) and Michael Conforto (single) RBIs, Jake struck out Granderson on a gorgeous changeup and worked around a one-out, Bryan Holaday single to keep his scorecard up until that point intact.
Rojas led off the fifth with a single to right and Walker followed with a base hit into left, leaving deGrom in a bit of a jam. After striking out Cooper (foul-tipped, absolutely wicked, 88 MPH changeup), deGrom induced a first-pitch 4-6-3 double play from Anderson to avoid any damage.
DeGrom was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the top of the sixth, ending his afternoon a bit earlier than most likely expected (94 pitches; 60 strikes). In a short day at the office, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner lowered his season ERA to 3.21 with his five innings of one-run ball, picking up six strikeouts and three walks along the way.
Jake drew 17 swings and misses on Sunday (six on his four-seam, seven on his slider, four on the changeup), and saw just 13 of his offerings be put into play. His control didn’t appear to be at the level deGrom usually holds himself too, but no harm, no foul.
Despite Juerys Familia’s best efforts to jeopardize a four-run lead in the seventh — Seth Lugo got two outs to escape that jam — the Mets tacked on another in the eighth and took two-of-three in Miami with a 6-2 win over the Fish; their first road series win since sweeping the Marlins April 1 through April 3.
“Almost 100 pitches in five innings, that’s not ideal,” deGrom said to the Mets’ press corps after the victory. “I just didn’t feel that comfortable out there today. But I’m fortunate enough that these guys put up some runs for me.” (Deesha Thosar, New York Daily News)
Amid all the uncertainty regarding the future of this current Mets rotation, we’ll know one thing for sure; every five days, in most cases, Jacob deGrom is going to bring his ace-level stuff to the table. We’ll always take that.
