Jacob DeGrom Shuts Down Padres Again in 3-2 Win

Jacob deGrom‘s last start in San Diego was nothing short of the typical excellence we have all come to expect from the Mets’ ace. Facing one of the league’s best offenses, deGrom held the Padres scoreless over seven innings, allowing only three hits and a walk while striking out 11 batters. In front of the largest crowd the Mets have had since September of 2019, deGrom faced an even bigger test on Friday matching up with Blake Snell and those same Padres after Snell’s dominant outing against the Mets a week ago.

In the first inning, deGrom shifted away from his usual first inning approach of throwing almost all fastballs. Tommy Pham led off the game and saw a steady diet of sliders before striking out swinging at a change up. Fernando Tatis Jr. followed with another strikeout chasing a 95 MPH slider. A Jake Cronenworth pop up to Francisco Lindor finished a perfect first inning for deGrom. It was his ninth consecutive perfect first inning after allowing a hit in the first inning on Opening Day.

Manny Machado kicked off the second inning with a fly out to centerfielder Kevin Pillar. After striking out Wil Myers, deGrom got Jurickson Profar to hit another pop up to Lindor to get through another 1-2-3 inning.

Facing the bottom third of the Padres’ order in the third, deGrom continued to roll. He struck out Ha-Seong Kim chasing a slider to begin the inning. Victor Caratini, who had a multi-home run game against deGrom in 2019, followed with the third pop up to Lindor in as many innings. Snell struck out on a high fastball to give deGrom a perfect run through the order.

The fourth inning was nearly identical to the first inning. After getting ahead of Pham with his slider, deGrom was able to strike him out lunging at a change up for the second time. He also attacked Tatis Jr. the same way he did in the first, once again striking him out chasing a slider. The strikeout of Tatis Jr. was deGrom’s 100th strikeout of the season.

At 61 2/3 innings pitched on the year, deGrom broke Shane Bieber‘s record of fewest innings needed to reach the 100 strikeout mark. The only difference between the fourth inning and the first was Cronenworth not being able to put the ball in play, as he struck out chasing a back foot slider.

DeGrom would make what proved to be his only mistake of the night in the fifth inning. After Machado grounded out to second baseman Jose Peraza, Myers got a 3-2 hanging slider and hit a single to right field to end deGrom’s bid for perfection after 4 1/3 innings. Myers was erased just as quickly as he got on when he was caught stealing on a perfect throw from catcher James McCann. After a pop up to third baseman Jonathan Villar in foul territory from Profar, deGrom was through five innings facing the minimum.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Mets finally broke through against Snell to get a 1-0 lead before deGrom stepped up to the plate. Just as he has all season, deGrom helped himself by hitting a two run single to give himself and the Mets some insurance with a 3-0 lead.

After getting the lead, deGrom was back to carving through Padres in the sixth inning, striking out Kim and Caratini to begin the inning. Pinch hitter Brian O’Grady hit a long fly ball to right field that Billy McKinney caught at the wall.

DeGrom was pulled from the game after six shutout innings and only 80 pitches with right flexor tendonitis. He allowed only the one single and struck out ten batters while facing the minimum.

To this point in the season, deGrom has been starting games throwing his fastball almost exclusively during the first time through the order. Facing the Padres for the second start in a row, it did not take him long to see that he needed to make an adjustment. DeGrom noted after the game that Pham had only swung at the first pitch of the game twice in his career. When he swung at the first pitch fastball to begin the night, deGrom realized the Padres were going to be hunting his fastball. He quickly made the adjustment to rely on his slider and change up more, and he proved he can dominate a team however he wants to on any given night.

“Knowing they wanted try to jump on the fastball, we made the adjustment,” deGrom said. “It wasn’t something we had talked about before. It was just seeing how aggressive they were going to be.”

DeGrom has reached the point where it is almost more surprising when someone reaches base against him than it is when he dominates a lineup. The Padres are second in baseball in percentage of swings that result in hard hit balls, and they have the second fewest strikeouts as a team. The Houston Astros are the only team better in both categories. In deGrom’s two starts against them, they were only able to get four hits and a walk while striking out 21 times over 13 innings.

It is difficult to ever expect a no-hitter or perfect game from a pitcher since the smallest bad break is all it takes to end it, but with offenses around the league struggling in 2021 and deGrom still somehow getting better every start, it is starting to feel like when, not if, he will get one of his own.

“Throwing a no-hitter or a perfect game is definitely a goal,” deGrom said. “Just haven’t been able to do it.”

DeGrom did not seem too worried about his injury following the game, saying he expects to make his next start which should come next week against the Chicago Cubs. With the run of brilliance deGrom has been on in 2021, Mets fans can start to wonder every night he takes the mound if it will be the night he goes the distance.