12 K’s from deGrom, 5 Homers Carry Mets to 14-1 Rout of Phils

The New York Mets picked up their second win in a row against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday beating them by a score of 14-1 (Box Score).

Pitching 

Jacob deGrom dazzled on the mound picking up his third win of the season going seven innings of one run ball, while allowing only three hits and striking out 12 batters.

In the top of the first, deGrom got two quick outs before allowing a single on 0-2 to Bryce Harper.

With Didi Gregorius up, Harper then stole second-and-third on Wilson Ramos. On the next pitch, Gregorius sent a shot to right field but was robbed by Michael Conforto, who made a tremendous over the head catch in right field to save a run and get deGrom out of the inning.

Michael gets on his scooter and makes the catch! pic.twitter.com/svE3BwkjtC

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 6, 2020

After making quick work of the first two batters in the top of the second, Andrew Knapp slugged an opposite field solo home run to put the Phillies on the board to even things up at 1-1.

DeGrom picked up his fifth-and-six strikeout of the game in a scoreless third. In between these punch-outs, J.D. Davis charged in to make a pretty barehanded play to get Andrew McCutchen at first.

In the top of the fourth, deGrom issued a rare leadoff walk to Harper. But he was able to work around it by inducing a groundout, and back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the inning.

Jacob deGrom, 99, 99, 100, and 100mph (K). pic.twitter.com/vzLH720Aqz

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 6, 2020

DeGrom seemingly lost some rhythm in the bottom of the fifth with a three-run lead. He allowed a one-out double to former teammate Neil Walker, but fought through it to pickup his ninth strikeout and work a scoreless frame.

In the top of the sixth, deGrom threw his second 1-2-3 inning of the day finishing off the frame with his 10th strikeout.

For deGrom, Sunday marked the 44th double digit strikeout game of his career, which is two behind Dwight Gooden, and 16 below the late Tom Seaver for the franchise lead. He lowered his season ERA down to 1.69.

DeGrom came back out for the top of the seventh and retired the first two batters he faced. After walking Knapp, he looked to be out of gas, but pushed through to strikeout Walker on a 3-2 pitch to get out of the inning.

Brad Brach came on in relief to start the eighth and walked the leadoff batter. Luckily, he was able to work around it with a fly out and inning ending double play.

Chasen Shreve came on to pitch the ninth and finished things off in a scoreless frame.

Offense 

The Phillies matched deGrom with an ace of their own in Aaron Nola, who did not look very ace-like going five and a third allowing six runs (three earned) on eight hits, while striking out 10.

Coming into the day, opposing left-handed hitters were batting a measly .100 off of Nola. However, he allowed a single and a double to Brandon Nimmo and Conforto to start his afternoon.

Unfortunately, Nimmo was thrown out trying to steal second prior to Conforto’s extra base hit. But, they would receive a gift as Dominic Smith hit a drive to center that turned around Adam Haseley and got over his head allowing Conforto to score the game’s first run.

On the first pitch of the bottom of the second, Pete Alonso jumped all over a Nola fastball to send a solo shot off the face of the upper deck to put the Mets back in front 2-1.

428 ft pic.twitter.com/ZXtsuxMnUo

— Metsmerized (@Metsmerized) September 6, 2020

Nola began to settle in as he struck out Nimmo and Davis in a scoreless third.

Smith led off the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff double that he sliced the opposite way landing just on the white line in fair territory.

Robinson Cano hit a chopper back to the mound, which saw Smith get caught in a run down, but the Mets caught a break as the Phillies threw the ball away allowing both runners to reach base safely.

This setup second-and-third with nobody out for Alonso. With a chance to do some serious damage, Alonso chased a pitch in the dirt to strikeout. Nola then walked Jeff McNeil intentionally to face Ramos with one out and the bases loaded.

While this strategy initially paid off as Ramos struck out, new starting shortstop Andres Gimenez continued his hot hitting shooting a two-run single up the middle on a first pitch fastball to extend the Mets lead to 4-2.

Andrés Giménez comes up big and extends the #Mets' lead. pic.twitter.com/AXdxTbZPbv

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 6, 2020

Conforto also continued his hot hitting with his second double of the game to leadoff the bottom of the fifth. While Nola struck out the next two, Cano hit a hot shot to first off the glove of Rhys Hoskins that got past him allowing Conforto to score the Mets fifth run of the day.

Leading off the bottom of the sixth, the red hot McNeil slammed his first home run of the season off Nola to put the Mets up 6-1. Afterwards, McNeil received the silent treatment in the dugout from his teammates before they mobbed him in celebration.

Run support? For Jake? We love it. pic.twitter.com/vUp13gyRKY

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 6, 2020

After Ramos struck out, Nola was lifted in favor of Heath Hembree. Although Hembree struck out Gimenez, he then left one up to Nimmo, who took him deep for a solo home run.

Smith picked up his third hit of the day as he led off the bottom of the seventh with a single off Mauricio Llovera. Alonso legged out a hustle double to setup second-and-third for McNeil with one out.

McNeil was plunked on the foot, which brought up the struggling Ramos with the bases loaded. Ramos struck out looking for his fourth K of the day and Gimenez hit a dribbler as the Mets failed to take advantage of the scoring chance.

Llovera stayed on for the bottom of the eighth and surrendered a leadoff single to Nimmo. Conforto followed this up with a single of his own to put runners on first-and-second with no outs for Amed Rosario.

Rosario drew his third walk of the season setting up Smith with the load the bases and nobody out. Smith ended Llovera’s day ripping a two-run double down the right field line to put the Mets up 9-1.

Luis Guillorme stepped in for his first at bat of the day with second-and-third and no outs against Blake Parker. Guillorme hit a fly ball that appeared to be going foul but landed in fair territory in front of the left field wall bouncing out of play for a ground rule double.

With the Mets now up 11-1, Alonso slugged his second homer of the day on a two-run shot to extend the lead to 13-1.

But they were not done there as Ramos hit a home run of his own to plate his team’s 14th run of the game. Before all was said-and-done the bats matched their run total of the game by putting up a seven spot in the eighth inning to turn this one into a laugher at 14-1.

Top Performers: 

Dom Smith went 4-for-5 with 3 RBI on the day. He now has 31 on the season, which leads the club. Pete Alonso recorded three hits, two home runs, and three RBIs, Brandon Nimmo went 3-for-5 with a home run, and two runs scored and Michael Conforto had three hits with three runs scored.

Up Next

David Peterson (4-1, 3.03 ERA) makes his return to the rotation as the Mets look to take 3-out-of-4 in the series as he faces former Met Zack Wheeler (4-0, 2.20 ERA).

First pitch is set for 1:10 pm EST. and the game can be seen on SNY.