Jacob deGrom, Mets live to play another day with wild card win over Padres
The last time Jacob deGrom pitched in the postseason was back when October of 2015 still felt magical for Mets fans. He still had long hair, he seemed like just a kid coming off of his first full season in the major leagues and he only threw in the mid-to-high 90s.
Somewhere along the line, he became the best pitcher in the world and the Mets crumbled around him. Fans waited a long time to see deGrom, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, pitch in a meaningful October game again. The thought of this sustained fans through six years of dysfunction and disappointment.
Saturday night in front of a sellout Citi Field crowd, deGrom made what quite possibly could be his final start in a Mets uniform, facing the San Diego Padres in a do-or-die wild-card game. He did not deliver his masterpiece, but he did deliver enough for the Mets to to stave off elimination with a 7-3 win.
Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso each hit home runs against San Diego starter Blake Snell and Brandon Nimmo went 3-for-4 with an RBI. The Mets had been unable to capitalize on Snell’s command issues early in the game, but when the bullpen struggled to get the ball over the plate, Jeff McNeil, the newly-crowned NL batting champ, broke the game open in the seventh with a two-run double.
So, the offseason speculation about deGrom, a pending free agent, is on hold for at least 24 hours. But at some point, he did realize that outing was possibly his last with the team that drafted him.
“I guess that went into my mind,” deGrom said. “But the hope was we’d win a baseball game and continue to keep playing.”
By the end of the night, the narrative wasn’t even about him. It was about the use of Edwin Diaz, who was brought in to start the seventh inning, sat for nearly 45 minutes when the Mets scored four in the bottom of the inning, then came back out for the eighth.
Diaz threw in the cages during that inning in an attempt to stay warm, something that is almost unprecedented for a closer.
McNeil’s line-drive double and the two ensuing insurance runs gave the Mets a five-run lead, which was more than enough to allow Diaz to sit. No longer needed for a nine-out save, the Mets were in a position to save their closer for Sunday’s elimination game.
“It crossed my mind,” Showalter said of removing Diaz. “The whole idea when we brought him in was, Grisham had been hurting us, and I wanted to get him through certain parts that set up better for the rest of the bullpen. He was going to have to pitch somewhere. It depends on where they fall in the order. [At] 7-2 and Manny [Machado] leading off, we’ll think about it tomorrow. We have to get this one under our belt.”
But Diaz took the mound in the eighth and faced three batters before turning the ball over to Adam Ottavino with two outs. He came out to a well-deserved ovation by the Citi Field crowd. It’s a move that makes manager Buck Showalter look smart if it works, but would have had fans calling for his head if it didn’t. Call it the reverse Zack Britton.
Luckily, it worked.
The usage of deGrom was also in question Saturday night. Trent Grisham tied the game at 1-1 in the third inning with a solo home run and scored on a single by Jurickson Profar in the top of the fifth, tying the game once again. It looked as though deGrom was done with two on and one out, but manager Buck Showalter ultimately left him in the game.
“They asked how I’m doing and I said, ‘I’m good to go. Let’s keep going,” deGrom said.
It proved to be the right call. deGrom struck out Machado and Josh Bell to end the inning. In the bottom of the frame, Pete Alonso took Martinez deep into the left field seats to lead off the inning with a go-ahead home run and give deGrom a lead to work with. The face of the franchise came back out in the sixth and retired the side in order.
“I actually felt like I had my best stuff in the sixth inning,” he said. “Slider was good. Fastball, I felt like I finally, actually — to [Brandon] Drury — threw one down and away where I wanted. Early on, they were just a little bit off and not quite the height I wanted them. So I felt like I made an adjustment there. Like I said, the sixth inning, I actually felt the best.”
deGrom allowed two earned runs on five hits, walked two and struck out eight over six innings. If this was it for deGrom, a pending free agent, he’ll at least end his career in Queens as a winner.
“I love pitching here. Mets fans have been great to me. Didn’t want to disappoint,” deGrom said. “So I wanted to go out there and give us a chance, and we were able to win a game.”
