Jacob deGrom strikes out side in dominant All-Star Game appearance

Jacob deGrom made it into the All-Star Game, entering in the sixth with the National League trailing 3-1. He proceeded to pitch arguably the best single inning in All-Star Game history, striking out the side on just ten pitches. No pitcher had ever struck out three batters on ten pitches or fewer in the midsummer exhibition. A two-strike ball to Jason Kipnis was the only flaw preventing an immaculate inning from deGrom.

.@JdeGrom19’s line: #whiff, #whiff, #whiff. @Headshoulders pic.twitter.com/oGffUmciq2

— MLB (@MLB) July 15, 2015

The inning started with Stephen Vogt (162 wRC+ against RHP this year). deGrom painted the corner twice to get ahead 0-2, then promptly blew Vogt away with a high fastball. Next up was Jason Kipnis (179 wRC+, 12.3% strikeout rate against RHP). deGrom again got ahead 0-2 with two fastballs on the corner. He then left a fastball outside before striking out Kipnis again with another fastball. Last up was Jose Iglesias (9.5% strikeout rate), entering the game for Alcides Escobar. deGrom got him to swing and miss at a fastball before throwing two consecutive curve balls for swinging strikes to end the at bat.

While the trio he faced was hardly murderers' row, Vogt and Kipnis absolutely mash righties and Iglesias is one of the hardest strikeouts in the game. deGrom managed to make them all look silly.