Taking the mound for the first time in eleven games on Sunday afternoon, New York Mets righty Jacob deGrom left his start against the Arizona Diamondbacks with head athletic trainer Brian Chicklo after five innings of one run ball.

DeGrom, who was perfect through four innings, had a rough go-around in the fifth.

After he issued a leadoff walk on four pitches to David Peralta, Stephen Vogt broke up the no-hitter, lining a perfectly placed double deep to the right centerfield gap in-between the diving Michael Conforto and Kevin Pillar.

Eduardo Escobar then walked, but deGrom was able to get Nick Ahmed to ground into the shift for a double play. He then uncharacteristically issued his third walk of the inning to Daulton Varsho, but recovered to strike out Christian Walker to strand the bases full and end the inning.

While deGrom was able to bare down and allowed just the one run in the inning, he looked noticeably off and in discomfort throughout that fifth inning of work.

DeGrom returned to the mound to pitch the sixth, but after just two warmup pitches, Chicklo came to mound with manager Luis Rojas, and they decided deGrom’s day was done and he was headed for an MRI.

On Monday afternoon, those MRI results came back clean showing no structural damage, though the team decided it would be in their best interest to place deGrom on the 10-day injured list with what they’re calling right side tightness.

While there’s no denying it hurts to lose your ace at any point in the season, this was definitely the right move for the Mets to make in this situation.

Let’s remember, deGrom missed his previously scheduled start with the same issue.

Even with the tightness being considered just a minor injury, the Mets are definitely better off playing things safe the second time around, especially this early in the season.

DeGrom can now take the time to rest up and get healthy, rather than going back out there and risking making this a longer-term injury. On top of that, the Mets can now use the opened up roster spot to bring back a rested arm for relief from Triple-A Syracuse.

Looking ahead at the Mets’ schedule, including Monday, they have three scheduled off days over the next eleven. That means they only have eight games between now and then, so if they decide to, they could run a with revamped four-man rotation or go with a bullpen game in deGrom’s turn.

Then, if all goes as planned, deGrom could return to the Mets on May 21, when they open up a three-game set with the Miami Marlins. That is also the beginning of a tough stretch of seventeen games in seventeen days, perfect time for their ace to return fresh and ready to roll.

With the schedule set-up the way it is, and deGrom’s long-term health in mind, placing him on the 10-day IL was an absolute no-brainer for the Mets. Thankfully they finally played it safe here, and hopefully it is a nice and quick return to the bump for Jacob deGrom.