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Jacob deGrom Pitches New York Mets To Victory In Home Opener

By Michael Papandrea

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0. 6. Final. 2. 3

New York Mets Win Opener Against Philadelphia Phillies Behind Jacob deGrom

Jacob deGrom led the New York Mets to victory by holding the Philadelphia Phillies scoreless while pitching 6.1 innings in front of a record crowd of 43,947. Despite being out-hit, the Mets were able to win the game by a score of 2-0 as they capitalized on a pair of fielding mishaps committed by the Phillies.

The game started smooth, as both pitchers didn’t surrender a hit until the third inning. Then, an inning later, the first run of the game was scored as Phillies pitcher, Aaron Harang, misplayed a ball hit back to him by Juan Lagares. With two outs, all Harang had to do was pick up the ball and make the throw to first, but he appeared to have slightly hurt himself on the play and took too long to throw out the hustling Lagares. Daniel Murphy, who wisely tagged up to third base just one play earlier, came in to score.

Pitching continued to be a theme with the wind blowing in. DeGrom pitched to contact as he only struck out three batters out of the 26 men he faced. Most batters were retired via fly out or line out as deGrom used 99 pitches to collect his first win of the season. After Freddy Galvis collected his third hit of the game on a sharply hit ground ball, deGrom was replaced by Carlos Torres with runners on first and second, one out.

With the pitchers spot up next, the Phillies took Harang out of the game for pinch hitter Cesear Hernandez, who grounded out to Murphy at second. Murphy made a potential run saving play by preventing the ball from getting into the outfield on a diving stop. He made the throw to second from his knees to get the force out. With two outs and runners on the corners, Ben Revere, who made an incredible diving catch to rob Curtis Grandson of at least a double, struck out looking to end the inning.

In the eighth inning with one out, it was the Phillies defense costing them again, as a ball went through the legs of second baseman Chase Utley. With runners on the corners, Travis d’Arnaud hit a sacrifice fly to Revere, who makes more plays with his legs than his arms. The late and inaccurate throw from Revere scored Michael Cuddyer to make it 2-0.

Half an inning later was closing time for Jeurys Familia. He started the inning with a walk to Carlos Ruiz on a 3-2 count. The next batter, Grady Sizemore, grounded the sinker to first baseman, Lucas Duda, for the 3-6-1 double play. The next batter flew out to center to end the game to bring the Mets back to .500 on the early season. The save was Familia’s second on the year.

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Matt Harvey, who collected his first win against the division rival Nationals four days ago, will look to do the same against another division rival in his second start back from Tommy John surgery. With the win today and Harvey pitching tomorrow, it serves as a nice distraction since the news of Jenrry Mejia being suspended for at least half the season. The bullpen has performed early in the season as well, including a 1-2-3 inning for Jerry Blevins today against three straight left-handed hitters.

Overall, the game was a confidence booster for young guys Lagares, d’Arnaud, and Wilmer Flores. Lagares and d’Arnaud each collected an RBI, while Flores hit the ball hard a couple times and turned one of those times into a single to left. He also played a sound defensive game to help his cause after a rough series in Atlanta where he made several inaccurate throws to first base.

Next: Where Did The Mets Rank In Week 2 Of Our MLB Power Rankings?

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