Field Level Media
Sep 11, 2018
Jacob deGrom continued to go unrewarded during a record-breaking season Tuesday night as the New York Mets' ace took the loss to the visiting Miami Marlins 5-3 in the opener of a four-game series at Citi Field.
DeGrom allowed just two runs over seven innings.
The Marlins, who hadn't played since Saturday because of back-to-back rainouts, won for just the fourth time in 12 games. The Mets have won six of nine.
DeGrom (8-9), who has a chance to become the first starter ever to win the Cy Young Award with fewer than 13 victories, allowed three runs or fewer for the 26th straight start -- the longest single-season streak in baseball history. Leslie "King" Cole had 25 straight starts for the Chicago Cubs in 1910. DeGrom gave up just three hits and two walks while striking out nine as his major league-leading ERA rose from 1.68 to 1.71.
However, deGrom's Cy Young case may have been damaged by a familiar lack of run support from his teammates as well as an 11-pitch span in the fourth inning. Brian Anderson extended the fourth by legging out a two-out single -- the first hit off deGrom. Derek Dietrich followed with a single to shallow left before Lewis Brinson snapped the scoreless tie with a two-run double off the center field wall.
DeGrom retired the final 10 batters he faced.
DeGrom's ERA is more than a half-run better than his two competitors for the National League award: Philadelphia Phillies ace Aaron Nola (2.29) and Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer (2.31). But both Scherzer (17) and Nola (16) rank first and second in the NL in wins and will each have at least one more start than deGrom, who will make only three more starts this season because of a rainout on Monday.
The Marlins added insurance in the eighth, when J.T. Riddle hit a solo homer, and ninth, when Anderson laced an RBI triple and Dietrich followed with a run-scoring double.
Jose Urena (6-12) earned the win for the Marlins after allowing one run on four hits and three walks while striking out five over 6 1/3 innings.
Michael Conforto went 2-for-4 and hit a solo homer in the sixth for the Mets. He has gone deep in three straight games. Kevin Plawecki hit a two-run homer in the ninth.
--Field Level Media