Jacob deGrom Throws A Brilliant 6 Innings But Leaves The Game With A Flexor Tendon Issue As The Mets Hang On To Beat The Padres By Rich Coutinho,The New York Extra/TheNYExtra.com

It was a much anticipated night at CitiField as 26,637 fans paid their way into the joint to watch Jacob deGrom take on the Padres for a second time in a week and once again he beat the Padres even though he had to leave with a flexor tendon issue. Both the Mets and deGrom feel it is a minor issue and he likely will make his next start.

Time will tell on that issue but it was business as usual on this June night as the Met fans appeared energized from the first pitch tonight and deGrom did not disappoint them as MVP chants filled the air. The Met ace gave up one harmless hit in his six innings of work striking out ten and had the biggest hit of the game–a line drive opposite field single that plated 2 runs off the Padres talented southpaw Blake Snell.

Once he left the game Miquel Castro gave up two runs to cut the Met lead to 3-2 but the trio of Seth Lugo, Aaron Loup, and Edwin Diaz threw 2.2 scoreless innings surrendering only 2 hits to give deGrom and the Mets the win which put the Mets at 31-24–7 games over 500 lengthening their NL East lead to 3.5 games over the Phils and 4 games over the Braves.

Most of the post game talk was about deGrom and rightfully so but this Met bullpen is quickly becoming a devastating group of relievers now that Seth Lugo has returned from the injured list. On this night, he bailed Castro out of that 7th inning while Edwin Diaz recorded a four out save bailing out Loup in the 8th inning by retiring Tommy Pham with the tying run on base. And in the ninth inning he dealt with both Fernando Tatis Jr and Eric Hosmer by striking out Tatis and ending the game with a harmless foul pop off the bat of Hosmer.

This Met bullpen has so many arms that each bring a unique skill set to the table–Lugo’s breaking ball, Loup’s slider that is tough on both righties and lefties and then there is Diaz–smoke near 100MPH and a slider with enough late movement to battle any hitter. Add in a rejuvenated Familia coupled with Trevor May and this pen has a plethora of options for Luis Rojas who carves out the use of his bullpen as well as anyone in baseball.

The big worry in MetNation is the health of deGrom which is becoming a chronic issue every week or so but on this night CitiField was electric much in the way it was in 2019 as the frenzy of the rabid fans in attendance gave the home team the impetus they needed to get a win.

If Met fans wanted some normalcy in the pandemic world we have been forced to live in the past 24 months they got it. A 3 hour period they had a chance to put that world on the backburner and enjoy watching the first place Mets beat the Padres for the third straight game. Maybe that is the new normalcy in NY baseball–a first place team in Queens and a team in the Bronx that has more questions than a game of Jeopardy. That is the new baseball normal in New York City.