Jacob deGrom looks dominant against Mets, Bullpen ruins it right away

Jacob deGrom returned to the Mets Tuesday night looking on his best form with a dominant performance that was immediately ruined.

For the first time since early July 2021, Jacob deGrom took the mound for himself New York Mets at Tuesday evening. And it looked like he never missed a moment in the Big Apple.

Not only did he hit triple digits multiple times with his fastball in the first inning, including registering at 102 mph with the third throw of his outing, but he looked great overall. Despite being limited to 59 pitches on the night, he went five innings with just three hits and one run earned while hitting six batters.

Against the Washington Nationals, a team that gutted their roster Juan Soto and Josh Bell at the close, which should have been more than enough for the Mets to give deGrom their first win in over a year.

The bullpen, however, had other plans – ones they immediately put into action.

Met’s bullpen ruins Jacob deGrom’s dominant return

Stephen Nogosek relieved deGrom at the bottom of the sixth inning and scored a flyout, but then hit the next batter before giving up a two-run homer to Luis Garcia. Next hitter, Yadiel Hernandez, took Nogosek’s court to clobber the Mets 4-1.

Admittedly, the New York bats didn’t do their returning ace any favors as they went into the ninth inning with just one run and five hits. But the bullpen’s instant failure to keep the game close was glaring and quite unfortunate.

Still, the Mets need to feel good about deGrom. He returned and hit the ground while running. For a team sitting in first place in NL East trying to maintain their lead and deGrom only getting healthier and able to get deeper into the games, that’s a great sign.