Michael Conforto was booed. Edwin Diaz was booed. Jacob deGrom was abandoned.
Saturday afternoon at Citi Field had zero offensive and bullpen highlights from the Mets, turning what should have been a celebrated deGrom performance just another frustrating day for the stud right-handed.
DeGrom tied a career high with 14 strikeouts, but the Mets lost 3-0 to the Marlins in just their last showing of lineup and bullpen offense to start the season.
The Mets (2-3) scored only three basehits and watched their closer Diaz be removed with two outs in the ninth after giving up two earned runs. Conforto struckout three batters and was 0-for-4. In the home opener two days earlier, he leaned against a pitch with the bases loaded in the ninth to force the game-winning run.
It was a second consecutive excellent deGrom start that ended with a loss to Mets. In Monday’s season opener in Philadelphia, he threw six shutout innings (removed after 77 pitches) and saw the bullpen implode in the eighth inning.
On this day, he gave up one run on five hits in eight innings and struckout 14 batters for the fourth time in his career.
Lefthanded Trevor Rogers dealt with the Mets and gave up only three hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks for six innings. The double by Brandon Nimmo that led the game for the Mets was the lone extra basehit against Rogers.
Upset for the struggling Conforto was intensified in the sixth, with his third consecutive strikeout against Rogers. Pete Alonso followed with a strikeout, leaving runners on first and third base after deGrom reached on an infield-single that led off the inning and Brandon Nimmo walked. The rally ended when Francisco Lindor retired, ahead of the strikeouts by Conforto and Alonso.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. jumped a 100mph fastball off deGrom in the second inning and crushed it in the second deck in the right field to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead. En route to that at bat, deGrom struckout four of the five batters he faced.
DeGrom’s strikeout of Rogers to finish fifth was his 10th of the afternoon, placing him only second in franchise history (he was previously tied with Dwight Gooden) for double digit games. DeGrom has 47 double-digit strikeout games in his career, following only Tom Seaver (60) in Mets history.