The last time Jacob deGrom was victorious, the Mets had one of the best records in baseball, and David Wright and Lucas Duda were integral cogs in a productive lineup.
Yes, it has been that long — nine starts to be exact, dating to April 30, when he beat the Giants to improve to 3-0. The winless streak continued Sunday afternoon, as deGrom celebrated his first Father’s Day with a subpar outing, and the Mets were stunningly swept by the lowly Braves, 6-0, at Citi Field.
“I’m more frustrated with myself about today,” deGrom said, dismissing the importance of his career-high run of outings without a victory. “I wasn’t very good today. We got out-pitched today, and they put up some runs against us. That’s pretty much what happened.”
DeGrom (3-4) didn’t necessarily pitch poorly, but on a day when the Mets couldn’t touch his adversary, Braves right-hander Julio Teheran, who allowed just one hit, deGrom wasn’t nearly good enough.
He lasted six innings — the third straight start in which deGrom failed to record a seventh-inning out — gave up three earned runs on five hits, and struck out six. He allowed a home run, a solo shot by Nick Markakis, for the third time in four starts, and a hit batter led to an early Braves lead. His ERA, now at 2.96, is the highest it has been in a month.
“I didn’t put us in a very good position to win,” deGrom said. “I want to go deeper in ballgames, and it doesn’t help when you’re at 100 pitches in six innings.”
Early in the season, deGrom’s lack of velocity was an issue, his fastball topping out at 93 mph. But as his velocity has come back, his command has dropped off, which has led to high pitch counts and shorter outings. He went to full counts on the game’s first two hitters and needed 19 pitches to get through the first inning. He lamented the fact he can’t put guys away as he has in the past.
“I’m just not making the pitch when I need to,” deGrom said.
His performance was symbolic of the entire weekend for the Mets starters against the woeful Braves. DeGrom, Matt Harvey and Steven Matz all failed to get through six innings, allowing a combined nine earned runs in 18 innings pitched.
“We haven’t made pitches we normally make,” manager Terry Collins said, “and it came back to haunt us.”