Michael Conforto got booed. Edwin Diaz got booed. Jacob deGrom got shafted.
Saturday afternoon at Citi Field brought zero offensive and bullpen highlights from the Mets, turning what should have been a celebrated deGrom performance into just another frustrating day for the stud right-hander.
DeGrom matched a career-high with 14 strikeouts, but the Mets lost 3-0 to the Marlins in their latest display of lineup and bullpen malfeasance to begin the season.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. jumped a 100-mph fastball in the second, crushing it into the right-field porch to give the Marlins their only run over eight innings against deGrom. The Mets lineup never showed up, but deGrom said that didn’t rank No. 1 on his list of disappointments from Saturday.
“I think I’m more frustrated about the fastball that was hit for a homer,” deGrom said. “He sold out for it. I probably should have done a better job recognizing he was going to try to get to that fastball. That’s what kind of eats at me the most, giving up that run there.”
The Mets (2-3) managed just three hits and watched as their closer Diaz was removed with two outs in the ninth after allowing two earned runs. Conforto struck out three times in an 0-for-4 afternoon.
It was a second straight superb deGrom start that ended with a Mets loss. In Monday’s season opener in Philadelphia he pitched six shutout innings (removed after 77 pitches) and watched the bullpen implode in the eighth.
On this day he allowed five hits, reaching 14 strikeouts for the fourth time in his career. DeGrom also went 1-for-2 at the plate with an infield single — his third hit in two appearances.
“An outing like that you can call it a waste, because that’s a strong outing,” manager Luis Rojas said. “That is one of the strongest outings I have seen him have. Just a lot of swings and misses, keeping the ball down. Holding runners. He did a lot of things, fielding his position, at the plate, running the bases. He was our best player out there today.”
Since the beginning of the 2018 season, deGrom has pitched to a 2.06 ERA, but the Mets are 36-42 in those starts.
“Jake is a professional in the fullest sense of the word,” Brandon Nimmo said. “He never comes in and is upset with us. He always just wants to win and try to put us in a position where we can win. He never complains, never asks us what we are doing, he just wants to put us in a position to win every time.”
DeGrom pointed to the three games postponed in Washington to begin the season as possibly a factor in the lineup’s slow start over these initial five games. The Mets have scored three runs or fewer in four of those games.
“It definitely didn’t help us having that time off, I think that factored into my first start of where do we draw the line of how many pitches,” deGrom said. “And these guys got ramped up and didn’t really get to see live pitching for a number of days, so I think that has a lot to do with it.”
Left-hander Trevor Rogers manhandled the Mets, allowing just three hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks over six shutout innings. Nimmo’s double leading off the game was the Mets’ only extra-base hit.
Boos for the struggling Conforto intensified in the sixth, with his third straight strikeout against Rogers. Pete Alonso followed with a strikeout, leaving runners stranded at first and third after deGrom had reached on an infield single to lead off the inning and Nimmo walked.
DeGrom’s strikeout of Rogers to end the fifth was his 10th of the afternoon, moving him alone into second place in franchise history (he was previously tied with Dwight Gooden) for games reaching double-digit strikeouts. DeGrom has 47 career double-digit strikeout games and trails only Tom Seaver (60) in Mets history.