An athlete generally isn’t supposed to get better as they get older. Scientifically, in fact, a pitcher’s prime generally occurs between their  24th and 29th birthday. That’s not to say that pitchers in their 30’s can’t excel, but it’s rare to see an aging player perform better than he did in their mid to late 20’s. 

With Jacob deGrom, it seems that science doesn’t matter at all.

The 32-year-old pumped a fastball in at 101 miles per hour during his start Thursday evening against the Houston Astros, an appearance that marked just his second of the Spring. 

He was elite. In fact, the entirety of the Mets pitching staff performed exceptionally, as they blanked the Astros in a 1-0 shutout victory, in which they allowed just one hit across nine innings of play collecting 17 strikeouts. 

Pitching

Jacob deGrom, who went two innings and struck out three in his first appearance of the Spring last week, was even more dominant in his second outing. The Mets’ ace generated his first out of the evening via the fly out, before striking out the next five Astros in a row to cap off two perfect innings. He stretched his outing into the third and struck out two more in the frame, bringing his total to seven victims via the punch out. 

Needless to say, Astros’ hitters were probably ecstatic when the Mets opted for a pitching change in the fourth.

Mike Montgomery, who the Mets signed to a minor league deal back in late February, took the mound next. The left-hander kept up deGrom’s pace, striking out the side in the fourth to bring the Mets perfect bid to four innings.

The Astros slotted their first and only hit off of Montgomery in the fifth off of a Taylor Jones single to left field. The lefty recovered quickly, however, and retired the next three batters to avoid any scoring threat. 

Jacob Barnes took over on in the bottom of the sixth, and made quick work of his opponents, striking out three Astros in a row via the swing and miss. 

Stephen Tarpley, a left-hander claimed off waivers by New York in January, was the next arm chosen out of the Mets’ bullpen. Tarpley nailed down two perfect innings in the seventh and eighth, and struck out two.

Finally, the Mets handed the ball to Daniel Zamora to attempt to tie the ribbon in the ninth, and he made it interesting, as a leadoff walk to Alex De Goti and a subsequent groundout put a runner in scoring position at second with just one gone. Jake Meyers drew a walk to put runners on first and second, but Zamora buckled down, forcing a groundout before striking out Pedro Leon to end the game at 1-0.

Offense

Although they racked up six hits against the Astros pitching on Thursday evening, the Mets bats could only manage to get one baserunner around to score. 

Part of the reason for this offensive struggle was the dominant arm of veteran Zack Greinke, who diced the Mets offense for three innings of solid work. Aside from two weak base hits, Greinke was in control, striking out four batters across his three frames.

Right-hander Ryan Pressly, who has been with the Astros bullpen since 2018, took to the mound in the fourth, and was immediately greeted by a Michael Conforto single. However, he recovered and struck Pete Alonso out swinging before forcing a double play off the bat of Dominic Smith to end the frame.

The Mets’ bats got things going in the fifth against 21-year-old pitcher Jairo Solis, as a J.D. Davis walk and a James McCann base hit put two runners on with just one gone. Later in the inning, Brandon Nimmo stepped to the plate, and delivered a two out base hit that looked to have RBI written all over it, but Astros’ right fielder Chas McCormick had other ideas. McCormick launched a throw home to catcher Martin Maldonado, who applied the tag to Davis for the third out of the inning, keeping the game scoreless.

By the sixth, the Mets had had enough of the shenanigans. After pitcher Nivaldo Rodriguez retired the first two batters of the inning, Alonso stepped to the plate, and absolutely demolished the baseball, blasting it into the left-center field sky for a solo home run.

That Polar Bear homer proved all the Mets would need, as quiet seventh, eighth, and ninth innings from the offense and steady pitching kept the score locked at 1-0. 

On Deck

The Mets will travel back to Port. St. Lucie tonight to prepare for a game tomorrow against the Miami Marlins. Marcus Stroman will get the ball to start his third game of the Spring, hoping to rebound after allowing two earned runs over three innings pitched in his last appearance.

Pablo Lopez will take to the mound for the Marlins in the matchup. Lopez has appeared in two games so far this Spring, and has not allowed a run in his five innings of work thus far. 

The game is scheduled to start at 1:10 p.m. EST, and will be televised on SNY.