NEW YORK — This isn’t about a single game, a solitary win or loss. Never was. This is, first and foremost, about the health of the most dominant pitcher on the planet. It’s about a Mets team that has the luxury, thanks to a padded division lead, of making Jacob deGrom’s arm care a priority above all else.
It may not be all that fun in the moment, but wins are wins. And the Mets are hoping the ultimate payoff will be worth it.
Upon completing the sixth inning in the Mets’ 1-0 win over the Phillies on Saturday, deGrom walked off the Citi Field mound, chatted with manager Buck Showalter and agreed to call it a night. deGrom had thrown only 76 pitches, the same total he fired in his last start against the Braves. He had taken six “ups,” or trips out of the dugout, also the same as last time. But the Mets did not want to push their ace in his third start back after more than a year on the sidelines.
So continued the motif of deGrom’s return from injury: brief but wildly effective. Setting down 16 batters in a row from the first through sixth innings, deGrom proved mostly unhittable for the second consecutive start. He punched out 10. He has 28 strikeouts and one walk in 16 2/3 innings. His ERA is 1.62. His WHIP is 0.42. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in 22 consecutive home starts, a Major League record. There’s little compelling evidence that anyone on Earth is better.
The only offense the Mets needed to back him occurred in the first inning, when Pete Alonso singled home Starling Marte for his National League-leading 97th RBI.
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