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JACOB HAMMERED AS WIN STREAK FLAMES OUT
ST. LOUIS — In this makeshift Mets rotation, Jacob deGrom is supposed to be the constant who shoves it to the opposition every fifth day.
But lately he has been part of the problem, and bad luck isn’t a plausible explanation given the alarming manner in which he has been bludgeoned. On Wednesday, the ace righty never gave the Mets a real chance to beat the Cardinals. He was in trouble in each of the five innings he started and never escaped the fifth in the Mets’ 8-1 loss at Busch Stadium that pushed his team 4 ½ games behind the Cardinals in the race for the NL’s second wild card.
“It’s hard to get results when you throw everything right down the middle,” deGrom said after matching a career high with three homers allowed. “That’s what it is. I’m missing down the middle and these are big-league hitters and that’s what they do.”
If the Mets are going to receive a quality starting pitching performance in this series, it will have to come from rookie Seth Lugo, who will carry the burden of trying to get his team a victory in the rubber game Thursday.
A night after Jon Niese limped off the mound in the first inning, taxing the bullpen, deGrom was finished after 4 2/3 innings in which he allowed five earned runs on 12 hits with two walks and three strikeouts. It followed a brutal performance at San Francisco last Thursday, when he allowed a career-high 13 hits and eight earned runs over five innings.
“Obviously we need to take a look and see how he’s doing and in this particular stage of the season, the first thing you look at is fatigue,” manager Terry Collins said. “We’ll start there.”
The Mets (63-63) had early chances against Carlos Martinez, but finished 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Over the first nine games of the road trip, the Mets are hitting .292, but have been betrayed by a pitching staff that had posted a 6.39 ERA. The biggest culprit lately has been deGrom, in a rotation that is awaiting Steven Matz’s return from shoulder tightness. Lugo’s start Thursday will be his second in place of the rookie Matz, whom the Mets hope can pitch Tuesday.
“These last two were frustrating, but I’ve got another one in five days, so I have to get ready for that one,” deGrom said. “I don’t feel tired at all.”
Stephen Piscotty’s two-run homer in the fifth eliminated the possibility deGrom might rebound in the middle innings and salvage a respectable start. Piscotty’s blast — the Cardinals’ third of the night — put the Mets in a 5-1 hole, and Erik Goeddel was summoned before the inning was complete.
Goeddel surrendered two runs in the seventh before Hansel Robles surrendered another in the eighth. In their five losses on the road trip, the Mets have surrendered an average of 9.8 runs.
Randal Grichuk’s solo homer in the fourth extended the Cardinals’ lead to 3-1, but deGrom escaped a jam later in the inning when Matt Carpenter lined into a double play.
Piscotty’s two-out infield single in the third put the Mets in a 2-1 hole. Jedd Gyorko and Brandon Moss singled in succession with two outs before Piscotty hit a bouncer that backed up Jose Reyes at third base. The throw to first was late, allowing Gyorko to score.
Asdrubal Cabrera’s RBI double in the second had tied it 1-1. Jay Bruce doubled leading off the inning and was promptly removed for precautionary reasons with a cramp in his right calf. Alejandro De Aza entered and scored the tying run on Cabrera’s double.
Matt Carpenter’s homer leading off the game for the Cardinals set the tone.
Collins would love to give deGrom an extended rest before his next start, but such a maneuver might be impractical with Matz and Niese sidelined.
“I’m not sure where we are going to find all the pitching for all these rests,” Collins said. “We’re running out of bodies.”