Jacob deGrom showed that he is in fact human in the Mets 5-3 loss against the Marlins on Monday afternoon. DeGrom had his first bad outing this season, allowing four runs, only one of which was earned, over six innings pitched.
The rest of the Mets bullpen managed to hold the score for the most part with only Brad Brach allowing a solo home run.
Offensively the team struggled yet again with an inability to bring runners home in scoring position as 12 runners were left stranded throughout the game. The scoring plays being on a double from Jeff McNeil, sacrifice fly from Dominic Smith, and a solo home run by Robinson Cano.
Pitching
Despite having to work his way out of a few sticky situations deGrom went five scoreless innings until he allowed a leadoff home run to Garrett Cooper to start the sixth.
After Pete Alonso allowed Matt Joyce to get to first on an error, deGrom started to unravel giving up a double to Lewin Diaz pushing Joyce home to even the score at two runs apiece.
Miguel Rojas punched a double to left field, with Diaz scoring, giving the Marlins the lead in the sixth with two outs. Jorge Alfaro doubled to right field with Rojas coming home, extending their lead as deGrom struggled to regain his composure for the last out.
With the trouble that deGrom faced in the sixth he exited for the day, here’s his final line:
6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 1 HR, 103 pitches/72 strikes
Newly reactivated Hunter Strickland entered in the seventh to relieve deGrom. He allowed a leadoff walk to Corey Dickerson but retired the side quickly with a double play and strikeout to Joyce.
Brad Brach took the mound for the eighth and was greeted by a Brian Anderson home run, extending the Marlins lead to 5-3.
Edwin Diaz entered to close and had a great outing in doing so, allowing one hit and two strikeouts.
Offense
The Mets bats were silent until the bottom of the third when Amed Rosario and Brandon Nimmo took walks with Jeff McNeil stepping up to the plate just in time to hit an RBI double to bring home Rosario, breaking open the score.
This was followed by Nimmo coming home on a sac fly off the bat of team RBI-leader Dominic Smith, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.
Despite a pair of leadoff doubles in the fourth and fifth from Robinson Cano and McNeil respectively, the Mets continued to struggle to translate them to runs.
Cano started the bottom of the sixth with an opposite-field home run closing the gap slightly, making the score 4-3 Marlins.
Even with another leadoff hit in the ninth by Andres Gimenez, the Mets couldn’t get anything across, as the Mets dropped their fourth-straight contest and are now five games under .500.
On Deck
The Mets head to Baltimore for their first game against the Orioles this season with the pitching matchup yet to be announced. The first pitch is set for 7:35 p.m. ET.
