deGROM IS deMAN!
Gives up 2 hits over 8 scoreless innings as Mets rip Padres:
SAN DIEGO — On the third anniversary of the Mets’ only no-hitter, Jacob deGrom flirted with the first perfect game in team history for five innings. The righthander did not get it, but he dominated Monday night, throwing eight scoreless innings as the Mets beat the Padres, 7-0, at Petco Park.
It was the Mets’ fifth shutout of the season and they have now won two straight (29-23). The win snapped a seven-game losing streak on the road for the Mets, moved them into a tie for first place with Washington in the NL East and was deGrom’s first road win this season. “I was feeling really comfortable out there with my delivery and I am making pitches,” said deGrom. “I heard somebody (in the stands) yell out about (the perfect game) as I was coming off the field. I was trying not to think about that and just go out there and execute my game.”
Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy carried the offense. Tejada, the newly named interim third baseman, went 3-for-5 and scored twice. Murphy went 4-for-5 with a home run and three runs scored. It was Murphy’s 13th career four-hit game. But it was clearly deGrom’s night. “This was probably the best game I have seen him pitch and I have seen him pitch some really, really good ones,” Terry Collins said, “but his command tonight, mixing and changing speeds, command really good.”
In his third straight dominating start, deGrom (6-4) scattered two hits and struck out eight. He did not walk a batter for his third straight start. DeGrom threw 105 pitches, 72 for strikes. He struck out his first four batters. Yangervis Solarte was the first Padre to get a ball in play, grounding out to first base for the second out of the second. DeGrom mowed down the first 15 batters, but not without giving the Mets a scare by slipping on the mound in the fifth. “He slipped,” said Collins. “We checked when he came off the mound. He’s had a hip issues, we asked him, he said no he slipped on his landing leg and he was OK.”
Clint Barmes finally grounded a single to right on the very the first pitch of the sixth inning, but deGrom did not allow that to rattle him. He struck out Austin Hedges and then coaxed a double-play ball out of pinch hitter Abraham Almonte to end the inning.
The Padres’ second base runner came with two outs in the eighth when Wilmer Flores stopped Will Middlebrook’s ground ball deep to his right and had no play to get the Padres third baseman at first. DeGrom got Barmes to fly out to right to end the inning.
What a coincidence it was that deGrom flirted with a perfect game Monday night, three years to the date of Johan Santana’s no-hitter against the Cardinals at Citi Field. It is a memory that is special to Mets fans, but painful for Collins.
Santana was coming back from September 2010 shoulder surgery and had a hard limit of 115 pitches that night, well, until the magic started to happen. Collins agonized with letting history happen or protecting his ace. Santana ended up throwing 134 and needed a second shoulder surgery in 2013, but has absolved Collins of any responsibility. Monday night, Santana tweeted that it was a very special day and a very important moment in his career.
Santana recently said that Collins made the right decision in a national magazine, but the Mets manager still said he is haunted by the decisions he made that night.
Collins did not face any such decisions Monday night and the Mets gave deGrom plenty of runs to work with.
In the first, Ruben Tejada laced a drive to deep right-center for a one-out, groundrule double and scored on Murphy’s single up the left-field line. Murphy scored when Darrell Ceciliani reached on Middlebrooks’ throwing error to first base.
The Mets added four in the fifth as Tejada singled with one out and Murphy followed with his fourth homer of the season. Michael Cuddyer doubled and scored on Darrell Ceciliani’s single to center for his first major-league RBI. Ceciliani then stole second and scored on Juan Lagares’ single.