The Mets beat the Brewers in Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon behind yet another good start from Jacob deGrom.
When the Mets resumed play following the All-Star break with a ten-game road trip through San Diego, Seattle, and Milwaukee, a .500 stretch didn’t sound ideal, but it seemed like it would be just enough to keep the Mets on the verge of relevancy. Five wins and fives losses later, that’s roughly where they stand—eight-and-a-half games back in the division and seven games back of the second Wild Card position in the National League. No one would pick the Mets as favorites right now, but they at least avoided torpedoing their season over the last ten days.
Perhaps it’s a little easier to be optimistic about Sunday afternoon’s win in Milwaukee because of the pair of players who made the biggest difference in it: Jacob deGrom and Lucas Duda. The 26-year-old right-handed pitcher gave up no runs in six-and-one-third innings of work, and he now has a 2.79 ERA and 3.08 FIP on the season. Against the Brewers, he struck out four, walked two, and allowed just four hits.
Over his last four starts, deGrom has allowed just two runs in 27.2 innings with 28 strikeouts and 5 walks, and he’s done so against four teams with better records than the Mets: the Braves, Marlins, Mariners, and Brewers.
It’s a good thing deGrom was that good again today, as the Mets again continued to struggle to score runs. But that all changed in the sixth inning when Lucas Duda hit another no-doubt home run with one out and Daniel Murphy on base. Those two runs were the only ones that scored in the game.
With a pitch count already over 100 through six innings, deGrom was sent back out for the seventh inning and got into more trouble than he had at any point in the first six. He allowed a single, notched a fly out, and gave up another single to begin the inning, at which point Terry Collins turned the game over to his bullpen. Vic Black took over, and he got pinch hitters Scooter Gennett and Aramis Ramirez to pop out in succession to end the inning.
From there, Jeurys Familia set the side down in order in the eighth inning, and Jenrry Mejia took the mound for the ninth. He allowed a one-out infield single and a two-out hard-hit single, but he worked around those just fine to keep the Brewers off the board and secure the Mets’ win.
SB Nation GameThreads
* Amazin' Avenue GameThread
* Brew Crew Ball GameThread
Win Probability Added
Big winners: Jacob deGrom, +27.2% WPA, Lucas Duda, +19.8% WPA, Vic Black, +15.4% WPA
Big losers:Ruben Tejada, -16.8% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Lucas Duda’s home run in the sixth, +24.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Ruben Tejada grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the second, -15.5% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +59.8% WPA
Total batter WPA: -9.8% WPA
GWRBI!: Lucas Duda