A double play is a pitcher’s best friend, as the hoary cliché goes. Jacob deGrom decided to have a few friends over tonight, with Neil Walker as the chauffer. deGrom induced 4-6-3 double plays in four straight innings in the service of throttling the World Champion Cubs, a complete game (!!!) five-hitter. The Mets won their fourth straight, their fifth of the last six and sixth of their last nine.
It didn’t appear that the infield defense would be on his side when the game began, though. In the top of the second, Chicago’s Jason Heyward hit a popup to the left side of the infield. Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera converged, but the ball dribbled down the front of Reyes’s shirt for a two-base error. deGrom would have no nonsense tonight, though, as he got Willson Contreras on a popup and struck out Javier Baez and John Lackey around an intentional walk to Addison Russell. Cabrera atoned for the gaffe by depositing the fourth pitch he saw from Lackey onto the bullpen roof in right center. Lackey clearly didn’t have his “A” game, as the Mets tattooed most of his deliveries for home runs or hard outs. deGrom put two on with one out in the third, but got Ben Zobrist on the first of those double plays. In the bottom half, Curtis Granderson drew a leadoff walk and Walker stroked a base hit to left, but Yoenis Cespedes — more on him in a minute — bounced into a double play of his own. No matter, though, because Jay Bruce lined a laser into the centerfield bleachers for a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth, Heyward opened with a base hit, but Contreras hit into the second of those double plays. In the bottom half, Cabrera hit his second long ball of the night, to roughly the same spot as his first one. In the top of the fifth, Lackey led off with a grounder into right field for a base hit, but Jon Jay grounded into the third of those double plays. In the top of the sixth, Anthony Rizzo worked a leadoff walk, but guess what happened next…yep, you got it; from Zobrist again. deGrom’s only blemish was a home run by Russell, just over the right field wall. Meanwhile, Cespedes left the game — after much scrutiny in and out of the dugout — with what is being called a sore left heel. I suppose it’s semi-good news that this wouldn’t appear to be related to his hamstring miseries, but geeze can the guy stay on the field? In any case, the Mets salted the game away in the eighth, on a single by Bruce, a double by Travis d’Arnaud over Zobrist’s head in right and a base knock by Reyes, all good for two more runs. To the delight of the Citi Field crowd, deGrom came out for the ninth and made short work of the Cubs, striking out Contreras on four pitches to end it.
A great win on a hot Citi night!
Tomorrow, in game two of this set, Zack Wheeler taking on Jon Lester.
Nice to finally see a complete game.
I don’t mean to keep bashing Collins during. a win streak but why is Flores on the bench in favor of ice cold Duda and the washed up Reyes?
The barehanded pickup coming in and the play way over to his left where he jumped in the air and turned body while throwing a strike to first base is the Reyes we all want to see. Problem is, his bat has slowed, but batting eighth doesn’t hurt the team as much.
Flores has two straight lefties coming up, so he’ll get his shot.
The SP are now at 41.2 IP and 4 ER in their last six games. That’s a 0.86 ERA.
Mets are 10-2 versus the Cubs in the last 12 games they’ve played against them.
Nice to get Reed and Blevins the day off.
Six well pitched games in a row from six different starters. Who would have thought? Walker batting second with Flores between Bruce and Duda is a lot of hitting. Oh, that’s right, Flores didn’t start. Droobs with two dingers though.
JDG and a complete game puts a smile on my face. Four in a row and playing crisp baseball.
Obviously, the complete game has to be the highlight. But, Neil Walker was quite a busy guy. Great way to use your defense and save bullets while walking four hitters.
While both Conforto and Cespedes are injured, there is enough offense as Metsense alluded to, so there shouldn’t be a problem. But while Metsense taps numbers two through five, I like Cabrera and TDA at six and seven where their lesser averages but more slugging can offer more damage per hit rather than not getting on base much, as it was with Cabrera at number two.
Also, since this appears to be the lineup tomorrow if Conforto and Cespedes can’t go, where Granderson bats will be very telling against against the lefty Lester.
While d’Arnaud’s overall numbers are not great, it is worth remembering that on 4/15 he had a slash line of .263/.345/.526.
Then he injured his wrist. The Mets had him attempt to play through it, he went 2-23, and finally went on the DL in early May, slashing for the season .203/.288/.475.
Now he’s back and contributing again. His BA has slowly improved and today it’s at .229/.299/.486 for a .785 OPS.
Just saying that the raw numbers don’t tell an accurate story for a player who is having a solid season.
Do you think Jose and Cabrera are thinking of who can be on that Delta flight from Las Vegas to JFK. Both players are surely ramping up their game.
I believe that Cabrera is a very good player whose legs are compromised. I also believe he has a lot of pride.
Jose can be a good fill-in player if that’s the role he’ll embrace.
Both of them should hear footsteps, for sure.