Desolated by wounds, the New York Mets need Jacob deGrom now like never before.
That is the reason his ordinarily brilliant performance Tuesday night was a particularly welcome sight in a sea of bad news.
The two-time Cy Young Award champ struck out nine in his successful get back from the injured list, and Tomas Nido hit a tiebreaking homer to send the drained Mets to a 3-1 triumph over the Colorado Rockies.
Back from a session with snugness on his right side, deGrom surrendered just Ryan McMahon’s solo homer in five innings of three-hit ball. He fired his usual assortment of 100 mph fastballs and terrible sliders during his first big league outing since May 9.
“It felt like a really long time,” deGrom said. “I hate not going out there. You feel like you’re letting down the team.”
The agile right-hander strolled none and was taken out after 63 pitches. He additionally singled at the plate for his eighth hit in seven games this season.
“Everything felt good. Body felt good,” said deGrom, who said he is pretty sure he hurt himself on a swing against Arizona.
He fanned eight more than three innings a week ago in a recovery appearance for Class A St. Lucie, at that point returned Tuesday to give the Mets a significant lift.
“He was outstanding,” manager Luis Rojas said. “This is who he is, just a complete baseball player.”
Nido associated for a two-run shot off Chi Gonzalez (2-3) in the 6th after Dominic Smith singled. Nido halted at second when umpires at first controlled his drive hit the highest point of the divider, yet they changed the call to a grand slam without advantage of replay following a group in the infield.
“I knew I hit it well,” Nido said. “I figured it was over his head. I just didn’t know if I had enough.”
Cameras showed the ball to be sure scarcely cleared the fence in left-focus prior to skipping back onto the field.
Nido waved his arms to spike on the Citi Field swarm as he wrapped up adjusting the bases with his third homer of the period. The reinforcement catcher has been squeezed into more standard obligation of late in light of the fact that New York has 16 players on the harmed list, most in the majors.
“He’s earned the playing time that he’s gotten,” Rojas said.
In spite of the multitude of wounds, the Mets (22-20) lead the NL East. They snapped a three-game slide and won for the fourth time in 11 games.
A threesome of Mets relievers consolidated for four hitless innings. Miguel Castro (1-1) struck out four out of two innings, Trevor May worked the eighth, and Edwin Diaz whiffed three in the 10th for his eighth save, finishing a three-hitter.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a game where every opponent’s fastball was over 95 mph,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “That was something.”