Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom was masterful in game one of the Amazins’ doubleheader with the Colorado Rockies on Saturday.
DeGrom went six innings, allowing no earned runs (three total) and matching a career-high for the second straight outing with 14 strikeouts. The two-time Cy Young Award winner was also one strikeout shy of tying former franchise great Tom Seaver for the MLB record of 10 consecutive strikeouts.
“We didn’t have a ball put in play for three innings. You don’t see that, it’s pretty special. You talk about Jake getting better every year,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said.
Clinging to a one-run lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, deGrom had a chance to make history, but gave up a ground ball up the middle, which Jeff McNeil fielded, but threw away into no-man’s land.
Although deGrom came up just shy of tying this feat, he admittedly had no idea he was on the verge of breaking this record, or that it even existed.
“I knew I had struckout a good amount of guys in a row. But I was frustrated I couldn’t field my position on the ground ball,” said deGrom, who felt he should’ve had the grounder before it reached his second baseman.
This error opened up Pandora’s box as Dom Nunez slugged an RBI triple off the wall in right to tie the game. Then, a sac fly ultimately gave the Rockies the lead due to an off-line throw by Michael Conforto.
It was deja vu all over again. The Mets were on the verge of spoiling another gem by deGrom as a result of poor defense and the usual lack of run support.
However, this contest proved to be different. The Mets got one back to cut the deficit to one-run in the top of the sixth after a Pete Alonso solo home run.
Heading to the top of the seventh still down a run with three outs left, the Mets made quick work against closer Daniel Bard with four straight hits. First, James McCann jumped on a pitch and singled to leadoff the inning, before being replaced by pinch runner Albert Almora Jr.
This brought up Tuesday’s hero Jonathan Villar — who was at it again — smashing the game tying RBI double off the wall in right field to plate Almora, who just got his hand in there safely to evade the tag.
After the Mets tied it up, they would regain the lead as superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor came through with the clutch go-ahead RBI single. The Mets finally backed up a deGrom gem that was squandered away, flipping the script to put him in line for the victory.
Manager Luis Rojas expressed his pleasure regarding the offensive performance and comeback as the bats woke up late after the fifth inning meltdown to bounce back.
“It’s encouraging to see. We missed a couple of scoring chances. It’s nice to see the guy’s resiliency. Four straight hits, it’s fun to watch and see that the guys are not giving up,” Rojas said.
Closer Edwin Diaz came on for the seventh and struck out the side to secure the win for deGrom. Both deGrom and Diaz combined for 17 strikeouts in seven innings of Game 1 of the doubleheader.
“It’s great to see, Diaz. He came in and kept doing what Jake did for most of the game,” Rojas added.
DeGrom has struck out 28 batters in his last 14 innings, while allowing just one earned run — lowering his ERA on the season to 0.45. The Mets extended their winning streak to four-games with this victory, which is their longest total since September of 2019.
While the offense has had trouble hitting with runners in scoring position this year, they came up clutch in game one when it mattered most — and most importantly — they did not waste another stellar outing from their No. 1 starter.
