Remembering Mets History (2015) NLDS Game #1- Jacob deGrom Pitches Seven Shuts Out Innings & Strikes Out 13 In Victory
Don Mattingly's Dodgers (92-70) had Clayton Kershaw (16-7 / 2.13 ERA / 301 Ks) on the mound hosting Terry Collins' New York Mets (90-72) with Mets ace Jacob deGrom (14-8 / 2.54 ERA / 205 Ks) going for New York.
Kershaw eased through the next two innings, except for a Lucas Duda single in the 2nd & a Curtis Granderson base hit in the 3rd inning.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Mets left fielder Michael Cuddyer misplayed a fly ball resulting in a ground rule double. But deGrom struck out Adrian Gonzales to end the inning.
In the home 4th inning, another Michale Cuddyer misjudge in left resulted in a hit. After Jacob deGrom struck out Andre Either, A.J. Ellis reached on a base hit putting two on. But deGrom got Joc Pederson to fly out & then Kershaw hit a long fly ball to center that Yoenis Cespedes tracked down to end the inning.
Both pitchers put away their opponents over the next two innings.
Dodger Manager Don Mattingly then removed Kershaw from the game bringing in the hard throwing Pedro Baez.
In the bottom of the 7th, Jacob deGrom came on to pitch getting AJ Ellis to fly out. He then struck out Joc Pederson & to the delight of Mets fans everywhere his 13th strikeout victim of the night was Chase Utley.
deGrom Post Season Trivia: Jacob deGrom became the first Mets pitcher since Tom Seaver in the 1973 NLCS against the Reds to have 13 strike outs in a post season game.
In the 8th inning, Tyler Clippard came on & gave up a Howie Kendrick double & a single to Adrian Gonzalez single bringing in the Dodgers first run, making it 3-1.
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| Curtis Granderson acknowledges |
In the top of the 1st, Clayton Kershaw threw 22 pitches, mostly because David Wright had a 12 pitch at bat drawing a walk, but the Mets were not able to score.
In the bottom of the 1st inning, Jacob deGrom allowed a single to Howie Kendrick but struck out three other Dodgers on 98 mph. fastballs.
Kershaw eased through the next two innings, except for a Lucas Duda single in the 2nd & a Curtis Granderson base hit in the 3rd inning.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Mets left fielder Michael Cuddyer misplayed a fly ball resulting in a ground rule double. But deGrom struck out Adrian Gonzales to end the inning.
In the top of 4th inning, Daniel Murphy broke the ice & put the Mets on the board with a long HR to right field. 1-0 Mets. It was the start of a big series for Murph.
In the home 4th inning, another Michale Cuddyer misjudge in left resulted in a hit. After Jacob deGrom struck out Andre Either, A.J. Ellis reached on a base hit putting two on. But deGrom got Joc Pederson to fly out & then Kershaw hit a long fly ball to center that Yoenis Cespedes tracked down to end the inning.
In the top of the 5th inning, Clayton Kershaw struck out Ruben Tejada & Jacob deGrom. Curtis Granderson singled to center field, but Kershaw also struck out David Wright for the third out.
In the home 5th inning, Jacob deGrom struck out Carl Crawford & Corey Segar to end the inning. In the bottom of the 6th, deGrom struck out Adria Gonzales again, then retired the next two batters as well.
The Mets held on to a 1-0 lead going into the 7th.
In the top of the 7th, Lucas Duda led off with a walk & was moved over to second on Michael Cuddyer's soft grounder. Kershaw then walked Ruben Tejada who had an outstanding at bat, drawing the walk after being down 0-2. Jacob deGrom then came to bat and successfully sacrificed the runners over. Curtis Granderson then walked to load the bases.
Mets Captain David Wright, the longest tenured player on the same team in all of MLB baseball delivered on a 3-2 count with a single up the middle driving in Lucas Duda & Ruben Tejada making it 3-0 Mets.
In the bottom of the 7th, Jacob deGrom came on to pitch getting AJ Ellis to fly out. He then struck out Joc Pederson & to the delight of Mets fans everywhere his 13th strikeout victim of the night was Chase Utley.
Jacob also made history becoming the first pitcher to have that many strike outs in his first post season game.
deGrom pitched seven shut out innings allowed no runs on five hits, one walk & 13 Ks.
Kershaw went 6.2 innings allowing three runs on four hits, walked four & struck out 11 taking the loss.
The shaky Tyler Clippard was relieved by Jeurys Familia who came on for the four out save. He got Justin Turner to line out to end the 8th inning.
In the 9th, three Dodger ground outs ended the game. The Mets took Game #1 on the road 3-1.
