DeGrom struggled all night, he gave up three runs, six hits, and four walks in five innings of work. As he left the dugout after five innings against Miami, he waved for the team trainer to join him. Xavier Scruggs had an RBI double for the Marlins while Francoeur and Jeff Mathis had two hits apiece.Right-hander Jose Urena (3-5) earned the win after allowing one run on four hits and two walks while striking out two over six innings. The club said there was no structural damage and he will take medication.
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“It just wasn’t getting better”, he said. That had prompted manager Terry Collins, suspecting fatigue, to skip deGrom’s turn Monday.
The Mets had a great chance in the second inning when they loaded the bases with two outs, but Yelich made a diving grab to rob deGrom of what would have been a two-run single in a scoreless game.
Second baseman Neil Walker earlier in the day had become the latest Met to be lost for the season when he committed to undergoing surgery to fix a herniated disk in his lower back that had deprived him of the feeling in a toe. “Like I said, this was a very hard decision”.
He made a couple of very thinly veiled remarks in the offseason hinting that he didn’t feel as if the Pirates treated him right – they didn’t, by the way, and I have no problem saying they didn’t, as they should have kept him around for one more year – but his comments were very innocuous in the grand scheme of things. “That’s been the big issue”, he said.
Already without Matt Harvey (thoracic outlet syndrome) for the remainder of the year and with lingering injuries to Noah Syndergaard (bone spur), Steven Matz (shoulder/elbow), Asdrubal Cabrera (knee) and Yoenis Cespedes (quad), losing Walker comes at an inopportune moment. I can’t throw the ball where I want right now. “If you look back, I yanked a few in the lefthanded batters box, where I am normally pretty good at locating my fastball”. “I’ve got to figure that out”. He pitched himself of out trouble in the fourth by inducing a double play from Mets’ starter Bartolo Colon.
Walker has been a steady presence for the NL wild-card contenders all season, batting.282 with 23 home runs and 55 RBIs.
Kelly Johnson and Wilmer Flores have been manning second base for the Mets in Walker’s absence.
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Giants outfielder Hunter Pence smashed a two-run homer to left-center field in the first to open the scoring against the Cubs, who rallied for a 5-4 win. With a comfortable 8 1/2-game lead in the AL West, Texas will send A.J. Griffin (6-3, 4.39 ERA) to the mound against Doug Fister (12-9, 3.60 ERA).
