JAKE AND THE MISTAKE
deGrom bounces back, but Familia wastes 10-K game
Wi t h postseason p l ay re s i di ng in t he realm of fantasy, the Mets are using their final games as learning tools.
Some things Sunday they already knew. Like Jacob deGrom will battle and bite you to death if necessary. Other matters were more sobering. Like Jeurys Familia is not quite ready to pitch back-to-back days.
After one of his worst outings of the season in his previous start, Jacob deGrom came back with one of his best, but it did not matter as the Mets bullpen pulled an arsonist act. After deGrom yielded three singles and struck out 10 in six innings, the Reds partied for eight runs, seven hits, four walks and a hit batter in a 10-5 victory at Citi Field to end the Mets winning streak at four.
“The f irst co u pl e hits weren’t hit very hard. They j ust hit it where nobody was,” said deGrom, who fell behind 2-0 in the first inning when he gave up two of the singles and walked two. “I thought I had pretty good stuff. There were three hits and I don’t think any were hit pretty hard. … It’s frustrating when you don’t give up hard contact and you look up and it’s 2-0.”
It’s even more frustrating when you go to the bullpen and relievers get ripped.
Zack Cozart tied the game with a three-run homer off Paul Sewald in the seventh before the Reds scored two in the eighth against Familia (1-2), who pitched consecutive days for the f irst time since coming off the disabled list two weeks ago. In the ninth, Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart completed a career-best f ive-RBI day with a three-run homer off Hansel Robles.
“He pitched back-to-back in his rehab, that’s why we put him in there. He was absolutely brilliant [Saturday]. Today he just didn’t have the same command,” said manager Terry Collins, ejected following an overturned call at home. “We’re in a stage of trying to f ind out things and we found out he’s not ready to go backto-back. … If you’re going to close you have to go backto-back.”
Familia claimed he probably tried to do too much.
“My arm doesn’t feel tired but at the same time I’m trying too much,” Familia said.
DeGrom — who recorded his 20th career game of 10 or more strikeouts, 10th this year, which is fifth most in team history — pitched without one apparent worry: family safety in Florida with Hurricane Irma.
“I think they’re all right. I don’t think the storm is to them yet. Since it moved farther west from where my house is I think it’s going to be all right,” said the pitcher, who lasted a season-low 3 ²/₃ innings with a careerhigh nine runs in his previous start.
The Mets put him up 5-2 on two RBIs each from Dominic Smith, who hit his fifth homer, and Jose Reyes, plus an RBI grounder from Travis d’Arnaud.
In the eighth, Barnhart doubled to score two, including Scott Schebler who appeared to be gunned down at the plate on shortstop Amed Rosario’s relay. Cincy challenged that Schebler got in before the tag by Travis d’Arnaud and also challenged that he blocked the plate. After 2 minutes, 30 seconds, the tag call was overturned and Schebler was safe.
“Initially I thought I got him, but after the half inning when I went in and looked, the glove stayed on my knee as I was rotating to absorb the slide. I just missed him,” d’Arnaud said.
Collins was tossed seeking an explanation.
“It’s an automatic,” he said of the ejection. “I wanted to know what they were told. I looked at the replay f ive times and there was not one thing I saw that could have possibly overturned it for me.”