Jacob deGrom threw two warm-up pitches before the start of the sixth inning Sunday and was soon in discussions with the trainer about the rest of his afternoon.
Removed for precautionary reasons with what the team called right-side tightness, deGrom watched the reminder from the sidelines as the Mets extended their winning streak to a season-high five games with a 4-2 victory over the Diamondbacks at Citi Field.
Miguel Castro, Jacob Barnes and Edwin Diaz combined to allow one run over four innings, continuing a dominant stretch by the bullpen, which has pitched to a 1.71 ERA since April 22.
The Mets won a third game in their last four in which they scored exactly four runs. In the other, they scored four runs over nine innings before adding another in the 10th to win on a walk-off.
DeGrom’s tightness, according to manager Luis Rojas, occurred in his lower back. Rojas termed it different from the right lat inflammation that scratched deGrom from his last scheduled start. DeGrom was sent for an MRI exam after Sunday’s game.
“We’re hoping for the best,” Michael Conforto said. “Jake’s very careful. He is not going to pitch on anything that doesn’t feel right and he’s a very tough guy as well. He’s strong. He’s built well. … Obviously we don’t like to see him leave the game early.”
DeGrom allowed one earned run on one hit over five innings with six strikeouts and three walks. The one run nudged his ERA from 0.51 to 0.68. A sign that something was amiss might have come in the fifth, when deGrom walked three batters, but Rojas said the right-hander didn’t provide any indication of tightness until he was warming up for the sixth.
On a raw afternoon, it might not have helped that deGrom ran the bases in the third inning after reaching on a bunt single.
“He bunted for a hit, he ran the bases, he tagged and went from second to third,” Rojas said. “It could be a lot of things that helped develop a little bit of a tightness on that right side.”
Rojas was asked if deGrom, given the manner his last week has unfolded, might benefit from a stint on the injured list regardless of the test results.
“I want to leave that to our medical staff,” Rojas said. “This is different from what he had, even though it’s the right side still tight. They will definitely recommend what’s best for him moving forward.”
DeGrom’s bunt was the key play in an inning in which the Mets scored twice. James McCann singled leading off the inning and deGrom’s bunt to third base went for a hit, with Eduardo Escobar’s throw to first sailing wild, giving the Mets runners on second and third with nobody out. Francisco Lindor’s sacrifice fly brought in a run and Conforto’s RBI single delivered another.
The Mets extended their lead to 3-1 in the sixth, without getting a hit. Patrick Mazeika walked with the bases loaded to force in the run, after Pete Alonso and Jonathan Villar walked in the inning and Dominic Smith was hit by a pitch.
Smith delivered an RBI single in the seventh, after Escobar’s fielding error allowed Lindor to reach and begin the rally. Asdrubal Cabrera got that run back for the Diamondbacks in the eighth with a homer against Barnes.
DeGrom worked four perfect innings before encountering trouble in the fifth, when he walked three batters. But the Diamondbacks scored only once in the inning, to pull within 2-1, in large part because deGrom got Nick Ahmed to hit into a double play.
“I think we’re ahead of things that could have been maybe worse for him, because he was trying to pitch through a tightness and that can really make your delivery [change] a little bit,” Rojas said. “It was a good thing for him that he called on us and he was OK getting removed from the game after that.”
