Met Crushmore
What about us? Now Amazin’s go deep
WASHINGTON — Jacob deGrom had backed himself into a corner. Eight straight balls after a leadoff single in the sixth inning loaded the bases, and with the Mets hanging onto a two-run lead, there was little room for error. So deGrom became a magician. The righty induced a weak pop-up from Ryan Zimmerman that was too shallow to become a sacrifice fly, got Howie Kendrick to line out right to Jose Reyes at shortstop and finished off his act by painting the corner to strike out Trea Turner on three pitches.
The crowd of 42,477, which had started the sequence on its feet, was left stunned as deGrom made sure the day ended in a Mets win, 8-2, Thursday in Washington.
“Obviously his stuff is really good to bail him out when times start getting tough,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “But he never backs down.”
Making his second start of the year, deGrom finished the day allowing just two runs (one earned), four hits, three walks and striking out five over six innings.
Nationals hitters not named Anthony Rendon or Adam Eaton went 0-for-17 against deGrom, the only one to reach being Bryce Harper on a sixth-inning walk that loaded the bases, with the Mets clinging to that 4-2 lead.
Though deGrom said he was having trouble gripping the ball, he found a way to escape the jam. Pitching coach Dave Eiland took a mound visit after the Harper walk and told deGrom to stay on top of the ball.
“I slowed it down and was able to locate,” said deGrom, who extended his streak to seven straight quality starts at Nationals Park.
Zimmerman had the first chance to make deGrom pay for loading the bases in the sixth. Instead, deGrom threw an 82 mph curveball that got weak contact for the shallow fly out. Kendrick came up next and hit a laser to Reyes’ glove.
“Luckily Jose was standing in the right spot,” deGrom said.
Turner was the f inal victim, swinging at a fastball and a slider before watching deGrom’s 94 mph fastball end the inning. The shortstop was furious with the call, letting that be known to home plate ump Doug Eddings, who eventually ejected him.
“He did not like the call, I guess,” deGrom said with a grin. “I haven’t looked at it. … It was 0-2, I don’t want it on the plate. It was closer to the plate than I actually wanted it. I was trying to get him to chase something.”