It was another hard luck loss for Jacob deGrom last night. Even though the Mets’ ace allowed just two runs in seven innings against the Padres, his effort wasn’t enough as the Mets’ offense was blanked 4-0 by San Diego’s rookie sensation, Chris Paddack.
DeGrom matched zeros with Paddack until he surrendered a home run to Hunter Renfroe in the fifth inning. The only other run the reigning Cy Young Award Winner would yield would be on a sacrifice fly by Ty France in the seventh inning.
But Renfroe’s solo home run would be all Paddack needed to cruise to victory. Paddack lived up to his hype and outdueled deGrom with 11 strikeouts during 7.2 shutout innings.
“(Paddack) reminds me a little bit of deGrom,” Manager Mickey Callaway said. “The extension, the body, the way he can get that first pitch down is very similar to what deGrom can do … Makes it a deadly combination.” (Deesah Thosar, NY Daily News)
A phenom like Paddack was exactly the kind of pitcher the struggling Mets’ offense didn’t need to face. Paddack, who now owns a 1.55 ERA and 10.18 K/9 on the season, gave the Mets little hope of breaking out of their team-wide slump. He carved through New York’s lineup with his explosive fastball and devastating changeup.
The only hitter that performed well against Paddack was Jeff McNeil, who went 2-for-4. The rest of the Mets’ lineup managed just two hits, and one of them was from deGrom.
In the much-anticipated matchup between Paddack and Pete Alonso, Paddack won the battle of the two rookies as he held the Mets’ firstbaseman hitless in three at-bats.
“It was going to be a good matchup and I didn’t answer the bell,” Alonso said. “I had a couple guys on base when I was up and I didn’t do the job tonight. It’s not good. It’s not a good feeling. It’s a really tough pill to swallow.” (Deesah Thosar, NY Daily News)
Alonso would not get another chance against Paddack, as the Padres called upon Craig Stammen to finish the eighth inning. Satmmen struck out Alonso, and he then retired all three batters in the ninth to earn his first save of the year.
The game was reminiscent of last year for deGrom as he was victimized by Mets’ inability to score. DeGrom went 10-9 last year despite his MLB-leading 1.70 ERA, and his 269 strikeouts in 217 innings.
Last night was the second straight outing that deGrom hasn’t received any runs from his offense. Last week, deGrom fired seven shutout innings against the Reds, but he got the no-decision as the Mets lost 1-0.
The loss now drops deGrom’s record to 2-4 on the season, but the outing improves his ERA to 3.60. He has struck out 56 batters in 40 innings pitched, and he owns a 3.50 FIP (Fielding Independent pitching) and 2.99 xFIP overall.
DeGrom will look to make it three strong starts in a row when he faces the last place Marlins this weekend. And he’ll hope that by then, the Mets’ bats will have woken up, and that they can take advantage of what will be much weaker Miami pitching.
