Trevor Blankenhorn

Jacob deGrom Made Padres Look Like Children

Each and every time Jacob deGrom takes the mound, he does something special. Then, there are nights like tonight where he was just on another level.

We saw it with everything including his defense. He took what would normally be a weak infield single, and he turned it into an unassisted out.

That was nothing compared to what he did in the fourth.

Jake Cronenworth hit a one out single. It was a very nice play by Billy McKinney sprinting in the gap to keep Cronenworth at first. Cronenworth did get to second when Francisco Lindor bobbled a Fernando Tatis, Jr. grounder.

Then, we got the biggest play of the game. Eric Hosmer blooped a ball which landed in front of Dominic Smith. Cronenworth got crossed up thereby preventing him of any chance of scoring. As a result, the bases were loaded with one out.

That meant deGrom had them right where he wanted them. He made very quick work of Wil Myers striking him out on four pitches. Tucupita Marcano battled, but he’d strike out on a 3-2 slider to end the inning.

Right there was the Padres chance, and as we know when you fail against deGrom, you’re not going to get another opportunity. The Padres wouldn’t. The question really was whether deGrom would get run support.

After back-to-back nights where the Padres flirted with no-hitters, they threw Joe Musgrove, the only pitcher in Padres history to throw a no-hitter.

Ironically, Musgrove didn’t flirt with the no-hitter. That ended when McKinney led off the game with a double. To the shock of no one, the Mets failed to score.

Entering this game, the Mets hadn’t had a hit with RISP in this series. As such, you had to believe the Mets needed to homer to score.

That happened twice in the fifth as Jose Peraza and Lindor each hit a solo homer giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.

As impressive as these homers were, there was the miracle in the sixth. Kevin Pillar and Tomas Nido began that inning with consecutive singles. That’s when Jonathan Villar, who has been on the bench with a hamstring issue pinch hit for Trevor Blankenhorn.

Villar came up big with the Mets first hit with RISP in the series. Villar drove home Pillar to increase the Mets lead to 3-0.

That was more than enough for deGrom, who was absolutely brilliant. He pitched seven scoreless allowing three hits and one walk while striking out 11. His season ERA is now 0.62. That’s the lowest ERA a pitcher has ever had through his first nine starts.

Now, with deGrom recently off the IL, this was supposed to be no restrictions. Maybe that was the case, and maybe it wasn’t, but we saw deGrom lifted despite throwing just 77 pitches.

While the decision seemed curious, the Mets had Seth Lugo for the eighth and Edwin Diaz for the ninth all lined up. After a scoreless eighth for Lugo, the Mets tacked on an insurance run.

Former Mets prospect Nabil Crismatt was pitching his second inning of relief. Lindor led off the 9th with a lead-off double. After Smith drew a one out walk, Pillar drove home Lindor to increase the lead to 4-0.

The Mets threatened for more, but didn’t deliver. Not even with the bases loaded. This meant it was not a save situation for Diaz.

In years past that was an issue for Diaz. Not tonight. He pitched a scoreless inning preserving the Mets 4-0 win and snap the Padres 12 game home winning streak.

This win was made possible by deGrom who was brilliant. He keeps setting new records and further establishes himself as the best pitcher in the game.

Game Notes: In the game, deGrom passed Sid Fernandez for fourth all-time on the Mets strikeout list. deGrom has given up just 10 hits with the bases loaded in his career over 58 plate appearances.

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