Julio Teheran knows Jacob deGrom’s struggle. A talented righthander with tremendous upside, Teheran instead has muddled through this painful Braves season with the worst run support in the league – an unfortunate set of circumstances that has led to seven losses, despite a 2.66 ERA. So it must’ve been a little bit like looking in the mirror, watching deGrom struggle through the knowledge that every small mistake is heightened, exaggerated and liable to cost the Mets the game.
And cost the Mets it did. DeGrom, who has not earned a win in nine straight starts, was passable if not extraordinary, and more often than not, an extraordinary pitching performance is the only thing that keeps the Mets afloat. He allowed five hits and three earned runs in six innings of the Mets’ 6-0 loss to the Braves Sunday afternoon – a series sweep as embarrassing as it was troublesome.
Teheran tossed a one-hitter, with seven strikeouts and no walks, and made it made it look effortless, which it might have been against a team this offensively stagnant. The Braves scored on singles, a double, a home run, a balk and a wild pitch. In short, they scored every which way while the Mets never got a player to scoring position.
DeGrom’s biggest glitch came in the third inning, when he allowed two runs and looked primed to give up much more. He nicked Erick Aybar to lead off the inning, and Aybar advanced to third on Teheran’s sacrifice bunt. One out later, Ender Inciarte brought him home on a single to right. DeGrom then gave up back-to-back singles to Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis, the latter scoring Inciarte. Tyler Flowers walked to load the bases but deGrom got Jace Peterson to pop out to first base on a 93-mph fastball to end the inning.
Markakis would victimize deGrom again in the sixth, stroking a 1-and-1 changeup deep to center for a solo home run, good for the 3-0 lead.
In return, the Mets did nothing. Their only hit off Teheran was Michael Conforto’s lead-off single in the third. Hard-hit balls were few and far between, and only deGrom’s opposite-field fly out in the third looked like it had a chance to go out, before dying on the warning track.
With runners on the corners in the seventh, Antonio Bastardo balked home Aybar and one batter later, Freeman stroked a long double to right. Granderson appeared to have made a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch on the play, but never fully had control, eventually dropping the ball to score Mallex Smith. The Braves tacked on another in the eighth, when Hansel Robles unleased a wild pitch with two outs and the bases loaded, to score Peterson.
..... - Newsday