DeGrom continues dominance as Brewers again can't complete sweep
MILWAUKEE -- While Matt Harvey has a certain buzz surrounding him each time he takes the mound, Jacob deGrom has been the New York Mets' best pitcher over the past two seasons.
DeGrom continued his impressive first half by tossing eight scoreless innings Thursday to help the Mets avoid a sweep with a 2-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.
"He was good," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "You try to be aggressive but it's lots of early-located pitches you don't feel like you can get a good swing at. His fastball is explosive. It's 95-96 and has some explosion at the end. He made quality pitches, a bunch of quality pitches."
While deGrom wasn't quite as dominant as Max Scherzer was on June 14 at Miller Park, the Brewers didn't have much of a chance against the reigning National League Rookie of the Year.
DeGrom allowed just four hits and struck out seven without a walk to pitch eight scoreless innings for the third time this season.
"He's got tremendous stuff," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "He knows how to use it. He's legit. He's not going through any sophomore slump. He's making the adjustments he has to make and making pitches. Outstanding game."
Milwaukee had just two scoring chances Thursday. The first came when Hernan Perez doubled with one out in the third and moved to third base on a Taylor Jungmann groundout. However, deGrom worked out of trouble by fanning Gerardo Parra to end the inning.
The Brewers didn't have another runner on base until Adam Lind singled with two outs in the seventh. Shane Peterson followed with a single to put the tying run on first base only to have Jean Segura fly out to center field for the third out.
Scooter Gennett led off the eighth with a single up the middle, but was quickly erased on a double play hit into by Perez.
New York's struggling offense broke through against Brewers reliever Michael Blazek in the sixth, as Wilmer Flores put the Mets up 1-0 with a two-out RBI double to left. Jonathan Broxton allowed three hits to load the bases in the seventh, which allowed the Mets to plate an insurance run when Lucas Duda hit a two-out infield single off the leg of Will Smith.
The two runs were plenty for deGrom, as he combined with Jeurys Familia to snap the Mets' seven-game losing streak.
"I approached it like every other start," deGrom said. "We got a couple of runs and I just tried to keep it at zero.
"I just go out there and try to keep us in the ballgame."
After posting a 2.69 ERA in 22 starts in 2014, deGrom has a 2.15 ERA through his first 15 starts this season. The 27-year-old has been particularly dominant of late, as he has a 1.23 ERA over his last eight outings. DeGrom has pitched at least seven innings in each of his last seven starts.
By taking the first two games of the series, the Brewers set themselves up with a chance for their first sweep of the season and their first home sweep since July 21-23 of 2014.
Milwaukee has not been able to win the series finale to complete a sweep. In the four chances they have had at completing a three-game sweep this season, the Brewers have scored just two runs and have been shut out three times.
"We got beat today," Counsell said. "The guy pitched a good game and beat us. I don't know of a magic formula to win the third game (of a series) compared to the other two games. DeGrom pitched a good game today. He was great."
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