Jacob deGrom shines in Citi Field debut
The symbolism at Citi Field on Sunday afternoon was a little too obvious.
During the pregame period when players typically mill around the field, a tarp covered the infield instead, the sky having just burst open to pour buckets of biblical rain on the stadium. The start of the game was delayed by 20 minutes to wait out the weather, but once the precipitation stopped, rays of sunshine in the literal and figurative sense shone from the heavens.
Jacob deGrom’s first five pitches of the game sizzled out of his hand at 99, 100, 100, 100 and 101.6 miles per hour, which should be rounded up to 102 for the simple reason of it being awesome. He was perfect through the first 17 hitters he faced, faltering in the sixth inning when he walked nine-hitter Ehire Adrianza. Nobody even stirred in the Mets’ bullpen until that inning, as deGrom was as dialed in as anyone could have reasonably hoped.
Dansby Swanson followed Adrianza’s walk with Atlanta’s first hit, and it went 418 feet for an opposite field home run. That closed the book on deGrom, as manager Buck Showalter called for lefty reliever Joely Rodriguez as soon as Swanson circled the bases. In his first start at Citi Field in over a year, deGrom not only carried the perfect game into the sixth inning, he also struck out 12 Braves and was responsible for a mind-blowing 25 swings and misses while facing only 19 hitters and throwing 76 total pitches.
The impact of getting deGrom back to his pre-injury form — which, by all indications, is where he’s at right now — can not be overstated. This is a top-five team in baseball adding a top-one pitcher. A physical representation of lighter times amid gray skies on Sunday, deGrom pitched the 200th game of his MLB career.
He departed not only having the record for most strikeouts in a pitcher’s first 200 starts, he also caused jubilation with each two-step off the rubber, cock of his world-class arm, and defeated march back to the dugout by hitter after hitter.
Jacob deGrom is back, and as long as that remains true, the Mets are going to be caked in sunshine.
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