Mets Morning News: More history for deGrom, Luis Guillorme close to return

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Jacob deGrom came out on top of a pitcher’s duel against Joe Musgrove and the Padres, lifting the Mets to a 4-0 victory in San Diego. deGrom was dominant as usual, giving up just one hit over the first three frames, while Musgrove only allowed two hits over the first four while striking out eight Mets. The Padres loaded the bases against deGrom in the fourth inning thanks to two singles and a botched double play attempt by Francisco Lindor, but deGrom struck out two straight batters to put the inning to bed and leave the bases loaded. José Peraza and Francisco Lindor each homered in the fifth to give the Mets a 2-0 lead, which they added to against the Padres bullpen in the sixth and ninth with RBI singles by Jonathan Villar and Kevin Pillar, respectively. Seth Lugo pitched a scoreless eighth and Edwin Díaz pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation to secure deGrom’s fifth win of the season. With his seven scoreless innings of work, deGrom lowers his season ERA to 0.62—the lowest of any pitcher in MLB history over his first nine starts.

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deGrom made more history last night, other than lowest season ERA through the first nine starts of a season. He was throwing gas last night, tying the record for most pitches over 101 mph thrown in a single inning in the pitch-tracking era.

deGrom is also now fourth in strikeouts on the Mets’ all-time leaderboard—behind only Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, and Jerry Koosman. He passed Sid Fernandez last night with his 1,450th career strikeout.

Luis Guillorme played three innings at third base in a rehab assignment at Triple-A on Friday night. The Mets expect him to be activated from the injured list by the end of this week.

Padres fans have reportedly been taunting Kevin Pillar about his mask that he wears to protect his surgically repaired nose, saying things “not fit for this Zoom call.”

The Mets giving players like Pete Alonso and Dominic Smith regular days off is an attempt to be proactive about injuries and setbacks, explained manager Luis Rojas.

Tim Healey of Newsday wrote about the high expectations of Francisco Lindor—something he has in common with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado—and his recent turnaround. “When we get home, maybe I don’t get booed,” Lindor said.

“I am giving myself time to hit, and that is pretty much it,” Lindor said of his recent hot streak. “This whole entire time, I have been trying to see the ball and put my body in a good position to hit the baseball. My body wasn’t getting into a good position, and now I’m in a good position to hit the ball. My mind wanted to do something, but since I wasn’t in that good hitting position, I couldn’t do it. Right now, I’m there.”

Joe DeMayo did a deep dive on prospect Brett Baty for SNY.

The Padres claimed Sam McWilliams off waivers from the Mets yesterday.

Around the National League East

Last night’s victory allowed the Mets to maintain a 3.5 game lead on the second-place Braves, who beat the Dodgers 6-4, dropping a five spot on Clayton Kershaw in the the third inning.

Freddie Freeman spoke candidly to reporters about both his and the Braves struggles in 2021 so far. “It’s been frustrating,” he said. “I’ve felt good multiple times during this season, and I’ve told you guys before, I feel like there’s one big glove out there for me.”

The Phillies bested the nationals 5-2 at Citizen’s Bank Park, thanks to Ranger Suárez’s brilliant outing in relief of Spencer Howard, who came out of the gate hot and hit a wall early, as has been his pattern.

Bryce Harper was activated from the injured list prior to yesterday’s game. In a separate move, the Phillies also placed closer Hector Neris on the paternity list.

The Nationals signed lefty Josh Rogers to a minor league deal.

The Marlins lost to the Pirates 8-7 in extra innings. Rookie Anthony Bender, who had been so good for the Marlins, failed to protect a three-run lead in the eighth inning and the Marlins’ losing streak has been extended to eight games.

Around Major League Baseball

In about two weeks, umpires will begin repeatedly and randomly check pitchers for foreign substances as they depart games—about 8-10 checks per game—according to Buster Olney’s latest reporting on MLB’s plan to crack down on the use of sticky substances by pitches. Baseball is hoping that the “gentleman’s agreement” regarding foreign substances will go away once this is in place, and teams will police each other using video.

A Babe Ruth pre-rookie card, of which fewer than 10 are known to exist in the world, sold for $6 million, making it the most expensive card ever sold.

Joel Sherman’s pace-of-play proposal? Each team gets five timeouts per nine-inning game to use for either a replay challenge OR a mound visit.

“They need you,” Yankees senior director of player development Kevin Reese said to 27-year-old, 12th-round pick Chris Gittens, who has finally earned his unlikely call-up to the major leagues.

This Date in Mets History

The Mets beat Roger Clemens and the Yankees 7-2 on this date in 1999, beginning a 40-15 run for the Amazins.