Jacob deGrom Dominates Dodgers In NLDS Game 1 Win

By Kenneth Teape | Oct 10, 2015

The New York Mets were able to pick up a victory in Game 1 of the National League Division Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers behind the arm of Jacob deGrom. deGrom, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, was outstanding in his first career postseason start and got the inexperienced Mets team, in terms of postseason appearances, an important 1-0 series lead.

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deGrom was exceptional for the Mets right off the bat, out dueling potential Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers were unable to get much of anything going off deGrom, who finished the game with seven innings pitched, five hits and one walk allowed, zero earned runs and 13 strikeouts.

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While that stat line is already an extremely strong one, taking a deeper look shows that deGrom was even more dominant. For starters, the one walk that he allowed was of the intentional variety. Also, two of the five hits allowed were because of misplayed balls in left field by Michael Cuddyer in the second and third innings. The Dodgers were never able to get anything going against deGrom, who had all of his pitches working right from the get go.

The 13 strikeouts that he piled up tied a Mets postseason record with Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, but he will be in the Dodger Stadium record book as those are the most strikeouts in that venue in playoff history. deGrom was blowing his fastball by hitters, as 14 of his 24 swing-and-misses were on his fastball. The 24 swing-and-misses were the second most in a game since 2009, as only Tim Lincecum’s 31 in a 2010 shutout of the Atlanta Braves tops him.

The Dodgers were struggling to catch up to deGrom’s fastball all night as they were unable to mount anything that resembled an offensive attack on him. He was able to pitch how he wanted, and once he was handed a 1-0 lead courtesy of a Daniel Murphy home run, he never looked back.

This was exactly what the doctor ordered, as the Mets had a tough assignment at the plate going up against Kershaw. But, the Mets were able to outlast him at the plate, as he crumbled again in the seventh inning, his trouble inning in the postseason. He ended up walking three batters in the inning before being lifted for Pedro Baez. Baez would promptly allow a two-run single to David Wright to give the Mets some insurance runs.

It took deGrom 121 pitches to get through those seven innings of work, so he will most likely not take the mound in Game 4 of the series on short rest. But, he certainly made the most of his season high in pitches as it stakes the Mets to an important 1-0 series lead, taking home field advantage away from the Dodgers and taking control of the NLDS.

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