(TSX / STATS) — ST. LOUIS — Jacob deGrom said it wasn’t fun to give up four homers in a game for the first time in his career.
But because it occurred as part of a win, the ignominious feat went down a little bit easier for the New York Mets’ ace.
Overcoming the St. Louis Cardinals’ barrage of long balls, deGrom picked up his fifth consecutive victory Friday night, working seven innings in the Mets’ 6-5 decision.
In upping his record to 9-3, deGrom allowed eight hits and four runs, walking none and fanning five. The four homers were St. Louis’ first four hits of the game, so deGrom never worked from the stretch until Paul DeJong’s leadoff single in the fifth.
“It was not fun, but at least they were solo shots,” deGrom said. “Our guys kept putting up runs for me, so I had to figure it out. I had to start getting the ball down. You just try to forget about the bad ones.”
After retiring the first six men he faced, deGrom coughed up a 419-foot blast to Randal Grichuk and a 418-foot shot to DeJong to start the third.
To begin the fourth, deGrom surrendered the Cardinals’ second pair of back-to-back jacks in as many innings, as Dexter Fowler and Jedd Gyorko both drilled pitches over the right field wall.
Jose Reyes and Jay Bruce unloaded solo shots for New York before the fifth inning was done on a night where normally pitcher-friendly Busch Stadium might as well have been Coors Field.
The six combined homers were one off the record for a game at the 12-year old ballpark.
“You could feel it tonight — the ball was jumping,” St. Louis second baseman Matt Carpenter said. “You’d stand on second and the wind would blow in your face.”
But deGrom, who got two extra days of rest because of a rainout in Washington on Wednesday night and an off-day Thursday, survived. He induced two 5-4-3 double plays to work out of trouble in the fifth and sixth innings, and handed a 6-4 lead to the bullpen.
“It goes back to what we talk about all the time — he’s a competitive kid,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “He had great velocity with the extra rest, but his location was off.”
Fortunately for New York (39-45), Cardinals ace Carlos Martinez (6-8) endured a second straight five-inning, five-run outing. Working without his top stuff or command, Martinez permitted seven hits and three walks, fanning four.
“I didn’t feel too great about it,” Martinez said through an interpreter. “I was trying my hardest, but for some reason, my pitches weren’t (going) where I wanted them to.”
Martinez walked the first two batters of the game and hit T.J. Rivera with the bases loaded later in the first, giving the Mets a cheap run. Reyes made it 2-0 to start the second with his ninth homer.
After St. Louis’ first set of consecutive homers, New York regained a two-run lead. Travis d’Arnaud singled home Reyes, and Curtis Granderson laced a 3-0 pitch down the right field line to score deGrom, on base after forcing out d’Arnaud.
In the fifth, Bruce whacked his 22nd homer on a 1-2 breaking ball that drifted over the plate’s middle. The 401-foot shot was his fourth career hit against Martinez, doubling his total before the game.
“We were hitting mistakes,” Bruce said. “He left some balls out over the plate.”
Rivera’s RBI double in the seventh scored Yoenis Cespedes, who reached on Carpenter’s third error in five games, with what proved to be the winning run.
Gyorko’s sacrifice fly in the eighth drew the Cardinals (41-45) within one, but closer Addison Reed sailed through a clean ninth on 11 pitches for his 15th save in 17 chances.
NOTES: St. Louis activated CF Dexter Fowler (right heel spur) from the 10-day DL and optioned OF Jose Martinez to Triple-A Memphis. Fowler, who missed 12 games with the injury, batted third and went 1-for-4. … New York OF Michael Conforto (bruised left hand) went 3-for-4 Thursday night in a rehab game for Class A St. Lucie against Charlotte. Conforto, the Mets’ only representative for Tuesday night’s All-Star Game, could be activated Saturday. … The Cardinals sent LHP Kevin Siegrist (cervical spine strain) to Double-A Springfield to start a rehab assignment. Siegrist pitched a scoreless inning, allowing a hit and fanning one.
Photo credit – Jeff Curry / USA TODAY Sports / St. Louis, MO