deGrom was not so deGrominant in Tuesday night’s game

No excuses, but with the delayed start time, an extra day of rest, and Travis d’Arnaud back behind the dish, Jacob deGrom had an unfamiliar night on the mound. The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner had his 26 consecutive quality start and 27-inning scoreless streak snapped after giving up six earned runs over four innings of work in Tuesday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins.

After the first inning, Jacob struggled to find any consistency on the mound. The right-hander had difficulty finding control with any of his pitches, especially with the fastball. With deGrom being the master of getting out of jams, and powering through nights where he just doesn’t have it, the wait began for him to limit the damage after Mitch Garver’s home run in the 2^nd inning.

Unfortunately, that moment never presented itself. Jacob’s struggles continued through the 3^rd, and 4^th inning; allowing Garver to homer again, making him just the third player ever to have two home runs in one game off the dominant ace (Mark Teixeira and Giancarlo Stanton being the other two).

Jacob was pulled after the 4th inning with 97 pitches.

After the game, Jacob had these comments to make about his poor outing, “Tonight’s on me. I was bad out there. That’s all there was to it.” Mickey Callaway also commented on Jacob’s performance, “We found out he’s human, finally. I didn’t think he was for a while.”

It’s worth noting that deGrom is a pitcher who likes to throw often, extra days of rest could have an effect, especially this early into the season. Also, despite having thrown to both Tomas Nido, and Wilson Ramos this season, Jacob seems to enjoy having a stable catcher, that role was filled by Devon Mesoraco last year. Travis d’Arnaud was Jacob’s third catcher in three starts to start off the season; something Mickey and the staff should possibly limit or at least dissect. After the game Travis even said that he “partially takes blame” for Jacob’s outing.