PHILADELPHIA — Jacob deGrom’s bid for a Cy Young Award three-peat took a double hit Wednesday night.
First, the Mets ace — with some shaky defense as a culprit — allowed three earned runs against the Phillies over two innings. Then he departed the game with a right hamstring spasm.
Through it all the Mets rallied, overcoming an early four-run deficit to snap a three-game skid with a 5-4 victory over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, helping their thin postseason chances.
DeGrom said he first felt the hamstring “grab” last Friday while warming up in the bullpen for his start against the Blue Jays, but the issue disappeared. It returned during the first inning Wednesday, prompting deGrom to alert the team’s medical staff. DeGrom indicated his removal an inning later was more precautionary than necessary.
Though deGrom is hopeful he might get a chance to return and pitch before his next scheduled start Monday, manager Luis Rojas won’t commit to anything. DeGrom has two scheduled starts remaining.
“I’m not too worried it’s going to be a long-term thing, I think we probably stopped at the right time,” deGrom said. “Running around, playing catch, it seems fine. Then once I get to full intensity in a game is when I felt it. Hopefully it’s something we can treat and get back out there as soon as possible.”
In two innings, deGrom allowed three earned runs on four hits with one strikeout and one walk. He began the night as the NL leader with a 1.69 ERA, but that number had jumped to 2.09 by his departure. The beneficiaries included the Reds’ Trevor Bauer, who assumed the NL lead with a 1.71 ERA. The Cubs’ Yu Darvish is behind him at 1.86. DeGrom is attempting to join Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson as the only pitcher to win as many as three straight Cy Young awards.
“I still felt like I should have been able to make pitches, and I didn’t,” deGrom said. “I don’t think [the hamstring] is any excuse for it. I didn’t throw the ball like I needed to throw it in some situations. The goal is to get ready whenever they tell me I can pitch again.”
Andres Gimenez knocked in the go-ahead run with a single in the ninth after Robinson Cano had singled leading off the inning and pinch-runner Amed Rosario was balked to second by Hector Neris.
J.D. Davis had a breakout game for the Mets, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Davis smashed a two-out RBI double in the eighth that tied it 4-4 against Adam Morgan and ensured a no-decision for deGrom.
“We just knew we needed to come through for the team, especially with Jake going down,” Davis said.
Michael Wacha gave the Mets a shot at the comeback by allowing only one run on five hits over four innings after deGrom was removed. Justin Wilson, Miguel Castro and Edwin Diaz combined for three scoreless innings to finish it.
Andrew Knapp’s shot off Dominic Smith’s glove for a RBI double sparked the Phillies’ big inning against deGrom. In the inning, Andrew McCutchen’s RBI fielder’s choice brought in a final run as Wilson Ramos dropped Gimenez’s throw attempting to apply a quick tag on Scott Kingery at the plate. Adam Haseley’s sacrifice fly had given the Phillies a 2-0 lead.
Zack Wheeler, in his second appearance against his former team in 1 ½ weeks, allowed three earned runs on seven hits over 7 ¹/₃ innings in the no-decision. The right-hander was pitching for the first time since tearing a fingernail last week while putting on his pants, causing him to miss a start.
Davis blasted a two-run homer in the sixth that pulled the Mets within 4-3. The Mets’ first run came on Robinson Cano’s RBI ground out following Davis’ double in the fourth.
“What we did tonight we have got to build on,” Rojas said. “And some of the things that still happened tonight we have got to minimize more and more.We made an error early … we also had a base-running mistake later in the night, but we had those two things happen and we got the W.”