Jacob deGrom was hit hard by the Royals on Wednesday night, allowing five hits in the fifth inning alone during the Mets’ 7-1 loss in Game 2 of the World Series. To put the five hits deGrom gave up in the fifth inning into perspective: He gave up five hits total in Game 1 of the NLDS, six hits in Game 5 of the NLDS, and four hits in Game 3 of the NLCS.
Overall, deGrom allowed four runs on six hits while walking three and striking out just two in five innings, inducing a swinging strike from the Royals just three times. Of the run-scoring hits against deGrom in the fifth inning, two came on sliders and the other came on his curveball.
“There’s a lot of good hitters over there,” deGrom said about the Royals after the game. “I think the walks hurt me and then there in the fifth, I couldn’t stop the bleeding. I was one pitch away from getting out of there with giving up one run, but I couldn’t make that pitch.”
DeGrom didn’t give up his first hit of the game until there was one out in the fourth inning before faltering in the fifth. He was unable to retire Alcides Escobar after he bunted two pitches foul and allowed three straight two-out singles. On whether he felt any different in the fifth inning as opposed to earlier in the game, deGrom said he felt “fine” and that he “just wasn’t making pitches.”
Asked if he had his best stuff, deGrom said he felt like his stuff was good but he just wasn’t locating very well.
“They did exactly what people said, and they put the ball in play,” manager Terry Collins said. “I told Jake not everything has to be a strike. You’ve got to move it around. You’ve got to change speeds, give them something to look at. If you continue to pound the strike zone, they’re going to put it in play, and that’s what they did.”
Matthew Cerrone
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Again, deGrom didn’t have his best stuff. It’s becoming a theme. In fact, he’s only been on his game once in the last four starts. By the way, his best game was when pitching on regular rest. The other three starts came off long layoffs, which I bet is not a coincidence at this late stage of the season. That said, in the fifth inning, the Royals treated him like a piñata. He got them to chase poor pitches earlier in the game, popping up stuff they hit harder later in the game. He looked weak in the fourth inning. However, in the fifth inning, which was roughly the third time they faced him during the night, he couldn’t get anything by them. I content they had a more advanced read on him.
Tipping pitches sounds like a conspiracy theory. I just think KC’s hitters were very prepared, be it looking for a tip, a specific count, whatever, they had a great sense of what he was going to throw. I say this because, in 320 innings of watching deGrom, I have never seen a team hit him so straight. It didn’t matter if it was a slider up or a 95-mph fastball in their kitchen, they pounced, were out in front and squared up everything for hits to center field. He threw 30 pitches in the inning and they didn’t swing and miss once.
I realize they make great contact against every pitcher. Kansas City had the best contact hitters in the major leagues this season, missing on just 19.7 percent of its swings, according to STATS. The Dodgers and Cubs swung and missed 58 times in deGrom’s first three postseason outings, but he got just three swings and misses against the Royals – his career low. Of his 94 pitches, 23 were fouled off by the Royals. But, to me, the concern isn’t the lack of swings and misses and the contact, it’s the type of contact they were making. It was so strong, so incredible and so stark from anything I’ve seen against him, it’s hard for me to believe it was just the Royals doing what the Royals do. They also had a better book on deGrom than anyone in 52 starts to date.
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