JAKE TAKES NO PITY ON KANSAS CITY
deGrom puts amzin'z in position to come out of Royals series ahead
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In his bid to repeat as the National League Cy Youngaward winner Jacob deGrom may have a difficult time catching a certain Dodgers left-hander, but the Mets ace has certainly resembled the 2018 version of himself since the All-Star break.
The award could be Hyun-Jin Ryu’s to lose at this point. And yet deGrom continues to churn out dominant innings that scream: “Don’t forget about me.”
Saturday night, he carried his team to a much-needed victory against a doormat. The Mets scratched for three runs late, beating the Royals 4-1 at Kauffman Stadium to keep a series victory in play.
DeGrom allowed one earned run over seven innings and has pitched to a 1.00 ERA in his seven starts since the All-Star break. He began the night tied for the NL lead in strikeouts with Max Scherzer at 189 and added five to that total.
“I honestly haven’t thought about it too much,” deGrom said, referring to the Cy Young award. “Of course I would like to be in the talks for it, but the main goal is to put this team in a position to win. We have been playing good baseball since the All-Star break and individual things are great, but the goal is for the team to make it to the World Series and win that, so my goal is to go out there and try to put up zeroes and give these guys a chance.”
After lasting just five innings against the Nationals last Sunday, deGrom returned to form. Overall, he surrendered three hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
DeGrom ended April with a 4.85 ERA, but has gradually improved since. The number dropped to a season-low 2.61 with this latest outing. Ryu leads the major leagues with a 1.45 ERA.
“There were three in row [in April] that kind of got away from me,” deGrom said. “I really wish I could have those back, but those are in the past so try to get better each time out.”
DeGrom allowed consecutive hard singles to Hunter Dozier and Jorge Soler to begin the seventh, but caught a break when Cheslor Cuthbert’s scorcher was hit right at Ruben Tejada, who kept the ball in front of him to start a 6-4-3 double play. Brett Phillips walked to keep the inning alive before deGrom struck out Ryan O’Hearn on his 107th and final pitch of the night.
“Getting out of that seventh inning jam was the highlight of the night for him,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “It’s not easy when your pitch count is that high to bear down and dig deep and make pitches you have to make and he did that. And that was probably the difference in the game.”
Juan Lagares provided a late cushion, smashing an RBI triple for his third hit of the night, giving the Mets a 4-1 lead in the eighth inning. Luis Guillorme’s two out single had started the surge.
Pete Alonso delivered the go-ahead hit in the seventh, sending a grounder behind second base that brought in two runs. The throw to the plate was cut off, ensuring there wouldn’t be a play on the trail runner, Aaron Altherr.
The Mets had loaded the bases in the inning on Amed Rosario’s walk after Altherr was plunked in the helmet by a Jakob Junis curveball. Lagares’ single started the rally.
“I’ve got an opportunity to be out there,” said Lagares, who is 11-for-21 (.524) on the road trip. “When you have an opportunity out there is when you can do better and make adjustments.”
Joe Panik’s RBI single in the fifth tied it 1-1. Lagares and the slumping Altherr opened the inning with consecutive singles, but Rosario hit into a double play to prevent a potentially big inning. Panik followed with his single to knock in Lagares.
DeGrom retired the first 10 batters he faced before missing on a full-count change-up to walk Alex Gordon in the fourth. Dozier followed with a single to right against the shift for the Royals’ first hit, sending Gordon to third. Alonso then misplayed Soler’s grounder for an error, giving the Royals a 1-0 lead.