Jacob deGrom has worst outing in several years as Mets lose in Oakland
Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets stands on the mound after he gave up a double to Dermis Garcia of the Oakland Athletics that scored two runs in the first inning at RingCentral Coliseum on Sept. 24, 2022 in Oakland, California. Credit: Getty Images/Ezra Shaw
OAKLAND, Calif. — In a series of unlikely events, maybe the most stunning was what went on down the rightfield line in the Mets’ foul-territory bullpen. Trevor Williams, their long-haired long reliever, who usually pitches when the score is not particularly close or when someone gets hurt, a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency kind of guy, began to warm up.
In the first inning. Against a bad team. With Jacob deGrom on the mound.
They escaped that ugly first inning without needing Williams, but the Mets lost to the Athletics anyway, 10-4, on Saturday afternoon in a game that provided a rare reminder on an inopportune occasion: deGrom can’t be great every time.
He had his worst start in several years, allowing five runs (all earned) in four innings, his fastball, slider and — in one critical moment — his defense failing him in a highly unusual development.
“He’s human, you know?” catcher Tomas Nido said.
Manager Buck Showalter said: “It reminds me how hard it is to do what he does at the level he does it at.”
And deGrom: “Just all-around unacceptable. A terrible job by me.”
DeGrom’s mess came with several statistical footnotes. Those were the most runs he gave up in a game since May 2019. It snapped a record streak of 40 consecutive starts in which he yielded three or fewer earned runs. His four walks matched his season total entering the day. His five strikeouts were a season low.
Staked by the Mets (96-57) to a three-run lead before he even took the mound, deGrom found trouble almost immediately. Vimael Machin lined a one-out single to left. Sean Murphy walked. Then Seth Brown walked, loading the bases.
DeGrom thought some of those balls should have been strikes, and he expressed as much to plate umpire Angel Hernandez. Hernandez, reputed to be perhaps the worst umpire in the majors, barked back. When deGrom returned for the bottom of the second, having watched those pitches on a computer, he told Hernandez the umpire had been right and Hernandez patted him on the back.
The back-to-back free passes were strikingly un-deGrom-like. He hadn’t walked more than one batter in any of his nine starts this season, never mind two in an inning — or in a row.
Next came a fielding flub. Dermis Garcia lined what became a double to leftfield. Jeff McNeil started in, then went back, then tripped over his own feet. Two runs scored.
“I got a good read on it. When I went to go back, just lost my footing, slipped a little bit and cost us a few runs,” McNeil said. “It’s a play I need to make. It’s a play I expect to make every single time. It’s a play I have made every time this year. It’s one of those fluke things that happens. My bad.”
Showalter said: “For a day game . . . this is a place that’s really hard to play the outfield. You don’t see the ball well. The sun is always an issue. I think every outfielder today has trouble at some point. I give everybody a pass there. Jeff’s played a really good leftfield for us.”
Three batters and two hits later, Oakland (56-96) had a lead.
“It was a lot of uncompetitive pitches and the misses in the middle. That’s what happens,” deGrom said. “I wasn’t able to locate down, so they didn’t have to look for anything down. You eliminate the lower half of the zone, look for something up and they beat me.”
As No. 9 hitter Nick Allen batted, Williams scrambled to stretch and throw. DeGrom struck out Allen with his 30th pitch of the inning. He fumbled through three more innings, allowing one more run (on Brown’s homer). “I kept thinking I was going to make the adjustment,” deGrom said.
Showalter said: “You keep waiting for him to kind of get it going there, but he wasn’t able to find his step.”
Oakland tacked on five more runs against Williams, Joely Rodriguez, Adam Ottavino and Trevor May (and Darin Ruf, who made several misplays in rightfield but was not charged with any errors).
For a half-inning, it looked as if the Mets might cruise to another win. Pete Alonso’s 38th homer (and 122nd and 123rd RBIs) highlighted a three-run top of the first against lefthander Ken Waldichuk, one of four players the Yankees sent to Oakland in the Frankie Montas/Lou Trivino trade.
Waldichuk managed to get through five runs, giving up just one additional run. Appearing in his fifth major-league game, he outpitched deGrom.
“It’s tough to see him have one of these kind of days,” McNeil said of the Mets’ ace. “But he’s one of the best pitchers in the world, so he’s going to come back next time and give us a good game.”
Atlanta gains ground
Kyle Wright became the first 20-game winner in the majors this season as visiting Atlanta beat the Phillies, 6-3, to stop a three-game losing streak.
William Contreras and rookie Michael Harris II each homered and had three hits for Atlanta (94-58), which moved within 1 1/2 games of the first-place Mets in the NL East.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
