Jacob deGrom still skipping All-Star Game, might pitch Sunday in Mets' final game before break
Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom smiles in the dugout after the top of the seventh inning against the Brewers in Game 1 of a split MLB doubleheader at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Jacob deGrom still will skip the All-Star Game in Denver next week, he said Wednesday, even though his pitching schedule is flexible enough to allow him to participate if he wanted to.
Instead, the Mets’ ace, who has dealt with a series of minor physical ailments this season, will use the four-day break to rest up for what the club expects to be a heated playoff race and hopes will be a long October.
"It’s best for me and this team for me to not go and throw in that and just rest for the second half," he said after throwing seven innings in a 4-3 win against the Brewers, the first time this season he lasted seven innings in consecutive starts.
Manager Luis Rojas added: "He doesn’t want to expose anything in a game that doesn’t mean anything to the Mets. He has respect for the event. He obviously wants to be a part of it, but with everything that has happened this season, his mindset is: If he’s going to pitch he’s going to pitch here."
DeGrom and Rojas also said he might pitch on short rest Sunday, in the Mets’ last game before the All-Star break, in some capacity. Normally, his day to start would be Monday, but there is no game then. So they are saying Sunday is a possibility.
"We don’t have anybody to pitch that day," deGrom said.
In the meantime, deGrom said he will "try to figure out" how to get Taijuan Walker (2.44 ERA) into the All-Star Game as a replacement.
"Hopefully Tai gets in there and takes my place," he said.
Extra bases
The Mets are leaning toward not activating J.D. Davis (left hand sprain) before the All-Star break, Rojas said. That way he can continue to get at-bats — with Triple-A Syracuse — during the break . . . Corey Oswalt (right knee inflammation) had fluid drained from his right knee and has limited mobility . . . West Islip’s Nick Tropeano was the Mets’ 27th man again for their doubleheader against the Brewers.
