New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom pitched like his vintage self in yesterday’s 2-1 extra-innings loss to the Chicago White Sox. For the first time this season it seemed as though he had almost everything going for him.
Jake pitched to seven innings of one-run ball before departing for the day. It was the second consecutive start in which he completed seven innings. He allowed five hits, while walking two and striking out a season-high 10 on the day. Yesterday’s double-digit strikeout performance was the 10th such time of his career.
“I thought I had command of all my pitches,” deGrom said. “I think there’s still some work to do, but I felt like I got more swings and misses on my fastball than earlier this season, so that’s a good sign for me.” (NY Post)
DeGrom looked great, mixing up his pitches and keeping batters off balance. He now has completed back-to-back impressive performances and may be on his way to getting to mid-season form. Jake only had one mistake on the day, leaving one over the plate in which Todd Frazier delivered over the fence. DeGrom took the no-decision, and has now had a no-decision in his last five starts.
Mets pitchers have had no room for error as the offense has sputtered. DeGrom did everything he needed to do to keep his team in the game while throwing a season-high 110 pitches. Manager, Terry Collins could not ask for much more from his pitcher.
“He made some very good pitches [and] I thought he had better life on the ball,” Collins said. “When you get to 110 pitches and still you make a big pitch to get out of an inning, this kid, he really battles. When you’re living on the edge and you got one run to work with, it’s tough for pitchers. They really have to focus and they can’t make too many mistakes and he didn’t make mistakes.”
DeGrom lowered his ERA to 2.62 on the day and his record stands at 3-1. Over his past two starts he has really shown that he could be getting back to the level he has shown throughout his career. Combining that with a possible resurgence of Matt Harvey and the performances of Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard thus far, it would be much needed for a team who have recently needed to rely heavily on their pitching to win.
