Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Mets ace deGrom’s arm hit by liner, exits rout of Phillies
Mets ace Jacob deGrom pitched brilliantly until he was hit in the pitching arm by a line drive and exited in the seventh inning, and New York homered four times to rout the Philadelphia Phillies 10-0 on Thursday night.
DeGrom (13-5) was nailed in the back of the right arm, just above the elbow, by Nick Williams’ liner. X-rays were negative, and the team said deGrom had a bruised triceps.
The 29-year-old deGrom initially smiled when manager Terry Collins went to check on him. But deGrom never threw a warmup pitch nor appeared to protest Collins’ decision to take him out.
DeGrom gave up four hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out nine without a walk. He improved to 9-2 with a 1.82 ERA in his last 11 starts while upping his career mark against Philadelphia
to 6-0 with a 2.10 ERA in 10 starts.
The injury-ravaged Mets already are without starters Noah Snydergaard (right lat tear), Matt Harvey (stress injury to right shoulder) and Zack Wheeler (stress reaction in right arm).
It had been a feel-good night to that point for the Mets, who avoided falling 12 games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2013 season with just their second win in the last seven games.
Wilmer Flores finished a triple shy of the cycle, Neil Walker had four hits with a homer, and Michael Conforto and Curtis Granderson also went deep as the Mets continued their power surge at Citizens Bank Park. The Mets have hit 51 homers in their last 23 games in Philadelphia.
Flores hit a three-run shot to straightaway center in the first off Vince Velasquez (27). Velasquez didn’t return after his shaky 32-pitch first inning due to numbness in his right middle finger. The right-hander was making his fifth start after being sidelined for 1 ½ months due to a right elbow flexor strain.
Mark Leiter Jr. replaced Velasquez and gave up a solo shot to Walker in the third before settling down to strike out seven in five strong innings of relief.
Conforto stayed hot and blew the game open in the seventh with an oppositefield, three-run homer off the foul pole in left. The home run extended Conforto’s career high to 24 on the season while giving him 11 in his last 13 games.
Granderson hit a two-run drive in the ninth.
Odubel Herrera extended his career-best hitting streak to 13 consecutive games with a seventhinning single for the Phillies.
Rhys Hoskins went 0-for-2 with a walk in his major-league debut. A natural first baseman, Hoskins started in left field after getting his first action there as a pro just this week at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He did play the outfield in college.