DeGrom gets no run support
Pitcher records 14 strikeouts, but offense fizzles in brutal loss
NEW YORK — The Mets offense was consistent in two areas Saturday: stranding runners on base and failing to provide run support for Jacob deGrom on an afternoon when he was at his best. The former is quickly becoming a bad pattern and the latter is standard practice for the Mets ace.
DeGrom matched his career-high in strikeouts with 14 in the Mets’ 3-0 loss to the Marlins on Saturday. With his 47th career double-digit-strikeout game, deGrom passed Doc Gooden to take sole possession of second place in that category. Tom Seaver with 60 such games is the franchise leader — for now.
Even as history is being made seemingly every time deGrom takes the mound, sadly Mets fans are unable to enjoy a clinic in pitching by a two-time Cy Young Award winner because the narrative is getting old.
“An outing like that, you can call it a waste,” said Mets manager Luis Rojas on deGrom’s brutal loss. “That’s one of the strongest outings I’ve seen him have.”
Only 25 of deGrom’s 47 career double-digit-strikeout games have resulted in wins since 2014. Since 2018, when deGrom recorded a 1.70 ERA in his first Cy Young season, the Mets are 36-42 in his starts.
Far too often, when deGrom pitches deep into games and makes opposing lineups look helpless, his own offense betrays him. Such was the case again Saturday, as he threw eight innings, gave up one run on a Jazz Chisholm homer, allowed five hits and issued no walks on 95 pitches. He has an ERA of 0.64 across two starts and 15 innings.
DeGrom pitched an outstanding game, and in return received a loss. Rinse, wash, repeat.
“Unfortunately, we’ve been through this before and it’s never easy,” said Brandon Nimmo, who has a 1.153 OPS with six walks across five games, on failing to score for deGrom.
“It’s a team effort,” the always humble and professional deGrom said. “Those guys had a tough matchup today. Their guy was really good on the mound. He didn’t make many mistakes. … That’s part of baseball. These guys do a good job of preparing every day and … today we just got beat.”
Marlins southpaw Trevor Rogers shut down the Mets offense with 10 strikeouts over six innings. After Rogers exited the game, Miami’s bullpen retired nine straight batters to send the Mets home with their third loss of the season.
The Amazin’s collected just three hits over nine innings Saturday, and one of them came off the bat of their starting pitcher.
DeGrom and Michael Conforto have the same number of hits (three) in the young season. The Mets right fielder, reportedly looking for a contract extension worth $200 million in his walk year, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Saturday. After his final strikeout in the sixth inning, and his eighth punch-out across 21 at-bats so far this season, the barrage of boos for Conforto from 8,419 fans at Citi Field got even louder.
Rojas dodged a question about dropping Conforto from the No. 3 spot in the lineup until the right fielder recovers from what the skipper called “a funk.”
Davis to IL: J.D. Davis could not avoid the injured list after being drilled on his left hand earlier this week. He was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 7, ahead of Saturday’s game, the team announced. The Mets called up infielder Jose Peraza and designated Franklyn Kilome for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.