Mets aid deGrom Cy Young cause in loss to Phillies
Every little bit helps for the Mets in trying to get Jacob deGrom the National League Cy Young Award.
Friday night that meant showing up against Phillies ace Aaron Nola, a top contender for the prize, and offering resistance. The Mets lost the game, 4-3 at Citi Field, but maybe aided their own ace’s cause.
Nola’s ERA ticked up from 2.23 to 2.29 on a night Jay Bruce and Dominic Smith homered for two of the Mets’ three hits against Nola (16-4) over seven innings. DeGrom, who is scheduled to pitch Sunday’s series finale, leads the major leagues with a 1.68 ERA. Another contender for the award, Washington’s Max Scherzer, will take a 2.28 ERA into his scheduled start against the Cubs on Saturday.
“That was the big talk today, we definitely want to help [deGrom] out,” Smith said. “We did OK with it.”
Tyler Bashlor surrendered a solo homer in the eighth to Rhys Hoskins that gave the Phillies a 4-3 lead after Smith’s blast a half-inning earlier against Nola tied the game. Smith, batting sixth, became the first player this season in the cleanup spot or lower to homer against Nola.
“I thought getting three runs off of [Nola] and hitting a couple of home runs off of him, not too many teams are scoring three runs against him,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “You want to go out there and win every night, but certain circumstances [the Cy Young race] enter your mind when they are there.”
Steven Matz had a fourth straight respectable start, albeit without the length the Mets would have preferred. Over five innings the lefty allowed two earned runs on three hits with eight strikeouts and two walks. Matz has pitched to a 2.25 ERA over his last four starts, with three no-decisions and a loss over that stretch.
Asdrubal Cabrera’s RBI single in the sixth against rookie Eric Hanhold gave the Phillies a 3-2 lead. Hanhold made his major league debut on Tuesday in Los Angeles, where he pitched 1 ¹/3 scoreless innings.
Jeff McNeil’s RBI double in the third against Nola had tied it 2-2. Brandon Nimmo walked in the inning to begin the rally.
Carlos Santana smashed a two-run homer against Matz in the third that put the Mets in a 2-1 hole.
Bruce homered leading off the second for the Mets’ first run. It was a third homer for Bruce since returning from the disabled list two weeks ago. Bruce hit only three homers in his first 2 ½ months this season.