Newsday reports:
The Mets’ ace dominated the Marlins for seven shutout innings, plus hit the second home run of his career in a 6-4 win Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep. He struck out a career-high 14 and allowed three hits and one walk.
“That was probably the best I’ve felt in a long time,” said deGrom, the best pitcher in baseball last year.
Manager Mickey Callaway said: “There’s been so many [good deGrom games] in a row I didn’t even realize that it was 14 Ks. He just does the same thing every time. You look up at the end and it’s something really impressive.”
Combined with RBI extra-base hits from Amed Rosario, Pete Alonso and Robinson Cano, deGrom’s all-around masterpiece was enough for another Mets victory, the finishing touch on a 5-1 season-opening road trip ahead of their first game at Citi Field at 1 p.m. Thursday.
The game was an ordinary one until the top of the third, when deGrom crushed a first-pitch fastball from Trevor Richards (six innings, three runs) into the Mets’ bullpen in right field. His only other homer came July 18, 2017, at Citi Field against the Nationals.
DeGrom said he stepped up to the plate trying to go deep.
Among deGrom’s noteworthy numbers:
* Wednesday was his 26th consecutive quality start (at least six innings, three runs or fewer). That ties Bob Gibson (1967-68) for the longest such streak in major-league history.
Gibson’s quality start streak ran from Sept. 12, 1967 until July 30, 1968. DeGrom’s streak started on May 18, 2018. He’ll attempt to break the record next week against the Minnesota Twins.
* DeGrom racked up double-digit strikeouts in each of his first two starts, the first pitcher in Mets history to do so. He has 24 total in those 13 innings.
* He is up to 26 consecutive scoreless innings dating to last season, a personal best (topping his 24 1/3-inning run in early 2018).
“It’s showing off that he probably has the best stuff in all of the major leagues,” Callaway said.
“What he’s doing is historic. You got to have really nasty stuff to be able to do that.”
Last March, DeGrom and NY Mets agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $137.5 million.
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