“When I seem to miss it seems to go right down the middle and it seems to get out of the park or off the wall”, deGrom said. “That’s what it is”, he said. “I’m missing down the middle and these are big-league hitters and that’s what they do”. “This is what they do”.
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Carlos Martinez pitched another gem of a game on Wednesday night at Busch Stadium, a Cardinals 8-1 thumping of the New York Mets.
A night after Jon Niese limped off the mound in the first inning, taxing the bullpen, deGrom was finished after 4 ²/₃ innings in which he allowed five earned runs on 12 hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Doubles by Jay Bruce and Asdrubal Cabrera put NY on the board in the second, although Bruce suffered a cramp in his right calf legging out his blooper down the left field line and had to leave the game for pinch-runner Alejandro De Aza.
It was the seventh win in nine games for the Cardinals (67-58), who are battling several opponents for one of the two wild-card spots in the National League.
“Obviously we need to take a look and see how he’s doing and in this particular stage of the season, the first thing you look at is fatigue”, manager Terry Collins said. We are the team that we are and, regardless of how much more comfortable our approach is on the road or at home, you’ve got to be the team that you are. It was his 11th start out of 24 in which he allowed one run or none and the fourth start in succession he had held the Mets to two runs or fewer. He’s been matched up in high-profile starts against Madison Bumgarner and Carlos Martinez, and has put the Mets in a big hole in each.
The Mets and Cardinals will wrap up their three game set tomorrow night. His 16th homer this year was his third leadoff homer of the season.
Matt Carpenter, Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty all homered for the Cardinals, who evened the series with the win.
“We had a lot of hits early but didn’t get a lot of runs until Stephen’s ball gave us some room”, said Mike Matheny following the game. “With his command, it’s never been an issue”, Collins said. “He’s always been down in the zone and has movement”. It was really just a continuation of his last outing. The Mets’ righthander hadn’t allowed a first-inning run in his last 17 starts, which was the longest active streak in the majors.
Collins said it’s possible deGrom may simply be feeling a little exhausted at this point in the year.
While the Mets would ideally give their starters some extra rest in between starts to keep their arms fresh down the stretch, such measures have become more hard to implement because their pitching depth has been significantly thinned by injuries.
“These last two outings I feel have been one of my best”, Martinez said through a translator. “I got to be ready for that”.
As the Mets coaches evaluated why deGrom has endured this mini-funk, they also had to deal with yet another injury with Bruce leaving the game in the second inning. “His calf knotted up when he was actually jogging out to right field in the first inning”.
He stayed on base for one more batter before walking off with Collins and trainer Ray Ramirez, and the team labeled Bruce’s departure a precautionary move.
It doesn’t appear Bruce will land on the disabled list.
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“I sneak a peek here and there”, Piscotty said.
