Cameron Rupp said it was Jacob deGrom’s day and the Phillies’ catcher was right about that.
DeGrom overpowered the Phillies on Sunday afternoon. The lanky, floppy-haired New York Mets right-hander pitched a one-hit shutout in leading his team to a 5-0 win at Citizens Bank Park (see Instant Replay).
The Phillies had just two base runners, a single by pitcher Zach Eflin, their only hit, and a walk by Ryan Howard.
Yes, it deGrom’s day. The complete game and shutout were his first in the majors.
But it almost always is deGrom’s day. He is 15-3 with a 1.63 ERA in 27 career daytime starts. No one is better over the last three seasons.
According to Rupp, deGrom isn’t overly difficult to pick up when the sun is shining – and it was Sunday, with 90-degree temps at first pitch.
“I didn’t have trouble seeing the ball,” Rupp said. “It didn’t look like we had a lot of bad swings. He just made pitches. He was down in the zone. His ball had a little bit of movement on it, just running off the barrel. And then when we hit it, it was right at them. That makes it for a tough day.
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“It was just his day. He pitched well. You’ve got to give a little bit of credit to that guy.”
The Phillies’ only hit was a single by Eflin with two outs in the third inning. Eflin pitched six innings and allowed three runs, all on extra-base hits with two outs.
DeGrom had terrific command of his downward-plane fastball, which topped out at 95 mph. He struck out seven.
“That wasn’t a lot of fun,” manager Pete Mackanin said. “DeGrom threw a heck of a game. He kept us down. That pretty much sums it up.
“He commanded his pitches, changed speeds and worked fast. He did everything you’re supposed to do - throw strikes, work fast, keep the ball down, change speeds.”
DeGrom is 6-4 with a 2.38 ERA in 16 starts. He was worthy of a spot on the NL All-Star team, but Mets skipper Terry Collins, who managed the NL All-Stars, did not select deGrom because he felt the pitcher needed a break.
Clearly, deGrom benefited from the rest.
“I definitely think that break was needed for me,” he said after Sunday’s game.
DeGrom’s gem came with a throng of Mets fans in the stands. Mets fans may not have outnumbered Phillies fans in the crowd of 30,894, but they were louder. Or at least they had more to cheer about and they did right down to deGrom’s game-ending strikeout of Odubel Herrera.
“I definitely wanted that strikeout,” deGrom said. “It was fun. Hopefully I have many more (shutouts).”
The Mets have won 11 of their last 13 series against the Phillies. They are 19-9 against the Phils since the start of the 2015 campaign and 31-13 at Citizens Bank Park since 2012.
Sunday’s feeble offensive effort left Mackanin lamenting the fact that his team doesn’t hit enough at home.
The Phillies are hitting just .222 at home, lowest in the majors. They are averaging just 2.96 runs per game at home, also lowest in the majors.
By contrast, the Phils are hitting .260 on the road and averaging 4.26 runs per game.
They are 21-25 on the road and 22-25 at home.
“I don’t know,” Mackanin said. “We don’t seem to hit as well as we should in this park. If you look at the numbers, we have to hit a little better at this ballpark.”
Things don’t get any easier on the Phillies Monday night as they must face another pretty good right-hander in Miami all-star Jose Fernandez. He will oppose Aaron Nola, who will make his first start after a 15-day break to clear his head. Nola is looking for a fresh start after finishing the first half with five straight poor outings.
Nola is an important building block in the Phillies’ rotation. So is Eflin. Though he left several balls up and was hit hard at times Sunday, Eflin managed to limit the Mets to three runs in six innings. Since allowing eight runs in 2 2/3 innings in his big-league debut June 14 at Toronto, Eflin has held the opposition to 11 earned runs in 38 2/3 innings over six starts.
“I really like Eflin and he’s got a bright future,” Mackanin said. “He made a few more mistakes than he probably should have, but it was a quality start.”
All three of the runs Eflin allowed came on extra-base hits with two outs. He allowed a full-count homer to Curtis Granderson after being up 0-2 in the count.
“One of the things that we have to address as a group is when we get ahead of hitters 0-2 and 1-2, we have to put them away,” Mackanin said. “We’re having trouble doing that.”
Eflin acknowledged that.
“I’m a contract guy who relies on weak groundballs,” he said. “There were a lot balls hit in the air today. I’ve got to work on getting my sinker down and just finishing guys.”
