Mets’ Silent Bats Waste Another Strong DeGrom Outing in 1-0 Shutout to Boston

By Jeff Moeller, The New York Extra/thenyextra.com

This Jacob DeGrom lack-of-run support effort may have hurt the most.

Baseball’s arguably best pitcher –also of  its best players — was again masterful at Citi FIeld Wednesday night, but the Mets’ offense didn’t respond in a 1-0 loss to Boston ,who swept the two-game set.

The Mets were shutout for the first time since they were blanked by Florida, 3-0, April 10.

DeGrom, who had nine strikeouts and just three hits, went six innings and was able to hit the 100 mile-per-hour mark again on his fastball. Boston’s Xander Bogaerts scored on Christian Vazquez’s double in the second inning to account for the game’s only run.

The righthander has given up two earned runs this season and has suffered losses in both of those outings. However, DeGrom downplayed his lack of support and focused on his issues.

He was coming off a 15-strikeout, two-hit, 4-0 shutout over Washington last Friday.

“I didn’t think about that, but because I didn’t make the pitches in the second inning,” he said. “Everything seemed to be flat. I wasn’t able to make the pitches when I needed to.

“It was disappointing and I felt like I didn’t have the same mechanics as my last outing.I went to my slider and changeup more often because they were better mechanically than my fastball.”

DeGrom (2-2) lowered his ERA to 0.51 and his strikeout total to 59 over five starts. Trevor May had a solid two innings, and Edwin Diaz struck out the side on nine pitches. Mets pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts.

The Mets (9-10) managed just two hits and were victims of 15 strikeouts of three Red Sox pitchers led by starter Nick Pivetta, who was effective through his five-inning stint with seven strikeouts. Jeff McNeil had a single in the second, and Pete Alonso had one in the sixth.

Red Sox closer Matt Barnes struck out the side in the ninth, and the Red Sox hurlers accumulated 15 overall. 

In their 2-1 loss to the Red Sox Tuesday night, the Mets had seven hits. They are hitting .234 as a team and averaging three runs per game, ranking them last in overall team offense. Their .671 OPS is 26th overall.

“Today, we had the same outcome with our bats,” said Met’s manager Luis Rojas. “Our approach is just off. We’re late on fastballs and taking pitches in the zone. 

“We just have to clean it up.”