The Mets (31-27) defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks (27-29) by a score of 6-3 today at Chase Field.
Jacob deGrom started for the Mets this afternoon, looking to give the Amazin’s a split of the series before returning home to face the reigning World Series champions on Tuesday night.
As what has become a norm, deGrom had a great outing, pitching seven strong outings allowing five hits on three runs (two earned) while striking out ten and walking three, and improving to 7-3 on the season, while lowering his ERA to 2.42.
The Mets got off to a quick start offensively, as Curtis Granderson hit a home run to lead off the game.
The Diamondbacks answered right back in the bottom half of the frame, however, as Ender Inciarte and A.J. Pollock hit back-to-back singles, putting runners on first and third with no outs and the very dangerous Paul Goldschmidt coming to the plate, putting Jacob deGrom in immediate trouble.
DeGrom got Goldschmidt to hit a tailor made double play ball to third baseman Eric Campbell, who threw wildly to second past Ruben Tejada and into the outfield, forcing in a run. Instead of having two out and nobody on, the Mets still had runners on the corners with no outs and the heart of the Diamondbacks lineup to get past.
The next batter, David Peralta, hit a sacrifice fly to give the Diamondbacks the lead, but deGrom struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
The Diamondbacks didn’t hold the lead for very long, as in the top of the second, Juan Lagares hit a ground rule double, and was promptly driven in when Eric Campbell hit a two-run shot to left field. Talk about redemption.
After the rocky first, deGrom turned it on and was locked in, striking out the side in the second.
In the fourth inning, Michael Cuddyer singled, and advanced to third on a double from Juan Lagares.
Kevin Plawecki was then walked to load the bases, but the Mets couldn’t bust the game wide open, and would leave the runners stranded as Jacob deGrom popped out to end the inning.
In the top of the fifth inning, Curtis Granderson hit his second home run of the game off almost an identical pitch that he took Josh Collmenter deep on in the first inning. Granderson’s home runs today were his seventh and eighth home runs on the campaign.
DeGrom walked the opposing pitcher in the bottom half of the fifth, but got Ender Inciarte to ground into a double play to end the inning.
Wilmer Flores hit his ninth home run of the season in the sixth inning to put the Mets up 5-2. Flores is now tied with Lucas Duda for the team lead in homers.
Paul Goldschmidt and David Peralta hit back-to-back singles in the bottom of the sixth. Jake Lamb then hit a comebacker to Jacob deGrom who got the out at second, putting runners on first and third with two out.
The next batter was Chris Owings, who dropped down a squeeze bunt single to score Goldschmidt from third. However, the next batter Jarrod Saltalamacchia grounded out to end the inning.
In the seventh inning, Jacob deGrom walked the pinch hitter Aaron Hill after a ground out to begin the inning. DeGrom was noticeably tired, as his velocity was down and he was over 100 pitches, but he labored through, striking out Ender Inciarte and getting A.J. Pollock to ground out to end the inning, and leaving Paul Goldschmidt on deck, which Ron Darling praised, saying that deGrom has “moxie” and how important it was to not let Goldschmidt bat with a runner on and have him beat you.
The ball was turned over to Hansel Robles for the eighth, who set the Diamondbacks 3,4,5 hitters down in order. With some of the Mets’ relievers working their way back from injury, every good outing from the bullpen count right now if these guys don’t want to be sent down. The team has to be impressed with Robles’ performance today.
J.C. Ramirez then came on for Arizona in the top of the ninth, and the Mets added an insurance run off of him, as after Eric Campbell singled, he then stole second and third base and was driven in by Darrel Ceciliani.
The Mets were running rampant on Martinez, as Ceciliani stole second and Ruben Tejada stole a base later in the inning as well.
The Amazin’s would load the bases, but weren’t able to score another run as Michael Cuddyer flew out to end the inning.
Jeurys Familia came on in the top of the ninth and earned his 17th save of the season, after a series of nice plays were made behind him, allowing him to pitch a 1,2,3 ninth and seal the win for the Mets.
With the Nationals losing against the Cubs, the Mets are again back in first place in what is becoming a cat and mouse game. But hey, it’s June 7th and we are in first, so I’m not complaining. (Well, I could, but we’ll save that for another day).
On deck:
Noah Syndergaard (2-3, 3.77 ERA) will look to rebound from his last start in San Diego, and drop the hammer on Chris Heston (5-4, 4.29 ERA) and the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field Tuesday night. First pitch is at 7:10 PM.
