Ever Dominant Jacob DeGrom Fans Nine Straight, Earns First Win
Apr 17, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
We have become accustomed to seeing nothing but excellence from Jacob deGrom over the last three seasons. Even after having his start pushed back twice and moved to the extremely hitter-friendly Coors Field, deGrom still put together another phenomenal outing and didn’t skip a beat.
The team’s ace had a relatively easy start to the day. After missing with his first three pitches with his velocity being slightly down, deGrom got Raimel Tapia to pop up to third base. He followed with a fly out from Ryan McMahon before striking out Trevor Story to finish the first inning.
The second inning did not go as smoothly for the two-time Cy Young Award winner. Charlie Blackmon lead off the inning with a double down the first base line. C.J. Cron followed with a six pitch walk. It was clear that deGrom was having a hard time getting comfortable on the mound from his body language, but in typical deGrom fashion, he managed to strike out Josh Fuentes, Sam Hilliard and Dom Nunez to strand the runners.
The right-hander led off the top of the third inning and hit an opposite field single. He came around to score the game’s first run, which, as Ron Darling pointed out on SNY, seemed to get him back into his rhythm. When deGrom took the mound for the bottom of the third, his demeanor had completely changed back to the laser focus that we have grown to expect. deGrom struck out the opposing pitcher, Chi Chi Gonzalez, Tapia and McMahon on only 12 pitches.
The Rockies had the heart of their lineup coming to bat with Story, Blackmon and Cron due up in the fourth inning. DeGrom wasted no time cutting through them, striking out all three batters on only 14 pitches. He set a new career-high with nine consecutive strikeouts, just one short of Tom Seaver’s MLB record.
The fifth inning began with a ground ball to Jeff McNeil to break deGrom’s strikeout streak. McNeil made a wide throw to first to allow Fuentes to reach base. After another strikeout of Hilliard, Dom Nunez hit an RBI triple off the wall in right field to tie the game. Yonathan Daza followed with a shallow fly ball to Michael Conforto that looked like it would not be deep enough to score the run, but Conforto’s throw home was wide as Nunez came in to give Colorado a 2-1 lead. Tapia then gave the Rockies an insurance run with a solo home run down the right field line. DeGrom struck out McMahon to put an end to the inning. All three Rockies runs were unearned.
The heart of the Rockies order was due up again to begin the sixth inning. Story led off the inning with a fly out to Conforto in right field. deGrom then struck out Blackmon and Cron to bring his total for the day up to 14, matching his career-high.
deGrom finished the day with six innings pitched, only allowing three unearned runs on three hits and one walk. He became only the third pitcher to strikeout 14 batters in a game at Coors Field, joining Rockies starting pitcher Jon Gray and Hall-of-Famer Randy Johnson.
The Mets were able to flip the script for their ace by finally scoring enough runs to get deGrom a win, but this outing was a mix of two things that we have come to expect from deGrom. He has shown that he is able to perform even when he is not as his best like he was in the first two innings. When he is on his game, like he was from the third inning on, he looks like a pitcher that plans to make good on his comments about becoming an “inner-circle Hall of Famer.”
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