Jacob deGrom leaves with blister issue as Mets’ offense, bullpen struggle
Andrew Mccoy
Published Apr 06, 2026
ATLANTA — Jacob deGrom looked down at his right middle finger as he explained from inside of the Mets clubhouse Friday night how a blood blister had prevented him from pitching deeper in the opening game of the season’s most important series. It wasn’t the reason he allowed three runs in six innings during the Mets’ 5-2 loss to the Braves, he said. And he isn’t concerned, he added, about the issue lingering long enough to prevent him from making his next start.
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The problem for New York is that any malfunction involving deGrom is unsettling. Especially now. The Mets are already dealing with plenty. They are experimenting with their hotshot prospect, Francisco Alvarez, after plucking him out of the minors to help solve their woes against left-handed pitching. They are auditioning unheralded, untested or unproven relievers in big spots to see which ones they can continue — or in some cases, start — to trust. This, while battling the Braves for a division title just before the postseason. Now the game’s best pitcher is dealing with a blister? Maybe it turns out to be nothing, like deGrom seemed to suggest, but it limited deGrom on Friday, and it’s a bad time for additional developments like this one. The Mets would prefer smooth over troubling. Friday was anything but.
The Mets and Braves are again tied for first in the NL East with five games to play, including two more against each other. On regular rest, deGrom’s next start would fall Wednesday, the final game of the season. The game may matter. In this year’s format, winning the NL East is pivotal because it would mean becoming the No. 2 seed and earning a bye.
Braves 5, Mets 2: The Mets will not be clinching the division here this weekend. Once again, the Mets and Braves are tied. Jacob deGrom allowed three runs in six innings. Despite Max Fried's short start, the Mets' offense didn't do enough. New York is 98-59.
— Will Sammon (@WillSammon) October 1, 2022
After losing Friday, the Mets can no longer clinch the division this weekend. Winning two of three, which they can still do, would lower their magic number to one for the final series of the season. Winning one game would mean the Mets still control their destiny. New York can take some comfort in the fact that Max Scherzer is starting Saturday. Still, they held that feeling going into Friday because of deGrom.
Friday, deGrom’s start was just one of a few reasons why the Mets lost. Along with the other two — their offense didn’t do much and reliever Tylor Megill’s poor outing made a comeback even harder — it’s a concern worth detailing with the division on the line and the playoffs on the horizon.
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On deGrom’s outlook
Mets manager Buck Showalter said the blister issue, which deGrom said was present in his last start, became more of a problem around the fifth inning. After the sixth inning, Showalter deemed it safest to pull deGrom, saying later that he didn’t want to jeopardize deGrom’s future availability. By the time deGrom left, the Mets trailed 3-1.
“It was there a little bit last start, and then it popped,” deGrom said. “It’s now just the skin, dead skin, peeling away. So it’s kind of working its way back, farther on my nail. So, I mean, the goal is to get it better. We don’t want to make it worse where the start is in question.”
Coming off his worst start last week against the Athletics, deGrom on Friday allowed three solo home runs.
“I don’t think it affected me,” deGrom said. “I just threw some pitches down the middle. I didn’t do a good job of locating when I needed to.”
In the second inning, deGrom hung a slider over the middle, and Austin Riley hit it for a home run. The next batter, Matt Olson, saw a fastball down the middle from deGrom and hit it for a home run.
“Those were terrible pitches,” deGrom said.
The third home run was different. The pitch wasn’t bad. In the sixth inning, Dansby Swanson crushed a low-and-inside fastball. By then, deGrom had made an adjustment against the Braves — a good sign in a game in which it’s worth noting he struck out 11 without issuing a walk — by pitching them more inside with his fastball after noticing they were leaning over the plate trying to take away the outside part. The pitch was supposed to be a little more up, deGrom said, but Swanson did an impressive job nonetheless.
“That’s a good lineup over there,” deGrom said.
DeGrom was still throwing 98 mph to Riley, his final batter, who struck out to end the sixth inning. By most standards, deGrom’s start was fine. But that’s the thing. He’s different. He’s set a higher bar. More is expected. He hadn’t allowed back-to-back home runs since 2019. The problem, according to deGrom, hasn’t been mechanics or the blister. He just made mistakes. And at a pivotal time, they cost the Mets. That’s not what anyone is used to seeing.
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“I feel good,” deGrom said. “That’s what’s the most frustrating part about it.”
In discussing the possibility of pitching Wednesday, deGrom said they’d “cross that bridge when they get there.” It all depends, of course, on what happens these next few days. But he added it could make sense for him to start even if the Mets end up clinching the division prior to Wednesday because of a potentially large layoff. That he expressed such an outlook is a positive sign for someone dealing with a blister problem, given how pesky those can be. But winning the division is anything but a sure thing. For as good as the Mets are, they have issues that go beyond their ace that could impact them ahead of deGrom’s next start, whenever that is.
On the bullpen
Showalter was right Friday when he said Megill’s outing wasn’t the reason the Mets lost. But the performance didn’t help. In relieving deGrom, Megill allowed two runs and three hits while recording just two outs in the seventh inning. Megill, a starter whom the Mets are using out of the bullpen with the belief he can be a weapon because of a big fastball, is one of several unproven, inconsistent or inexperienced options the Mets are using in big spots. Out of the group, they will need a couple in the postseason. It’s not an ideal situation.
Friday, Showalter didn’t want to use Drew Smith or Seth Lugo, he said, citing the length of their previous respective outings. He wasn’t going to use setup man Adam Ottavino in that spot, either. Really, Mychal Givens would’ve been the best choice, but the veteran is still on the COVID-IL and is expected to throw a simulated game at Truist Park on Saturday.
The Mets can feel confident about turning to Lugo, Ottavino and Edwin Díaz. Maybe Smith. Maybe Givens. Maybe Trevor May. With a postseason schedule featuring fewer days off than in years past, teams need more than three relievers that they can trust. That’s especially true if the journey starts at the wild-card round.
On the offense
After dominating the Mets through five innings, Braves starter Max Fried felt too sick to keep pitching. So after just 71 pitches and three hard-hit balls allowed, he was done. A break for the Mets? Not quite. They faced a red-hot Braves bullpen and didn’t do much against it. Tomas Nido hit a solo home run to make it 5-2 in the eighth inning, and the Mets loaded the bases against Kenley Jansen only to fail to capitalize against the enigmatic closer.
“We just didn’t mount a whole lot,” Showalter said.
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The Mets’ offense features a couple of problems. One, New York doesn’t hit lefties well, which could hurt them more in the playoffs. Two, it doesn’t hit a lot of home runs, which is a key difference between it and Atlanta.
In a bold move, the Mets turned to Alvarez, GM Billy Eppler said Friday, because of Darin Ruf’s strained neck (they placed the veteran on the injured list) and because Alvarez performed well at Triple-A Syracuse once he was cleared from an ankle injury. The idea of making a debut at 20 years old in the biggest series of the season with six games left was not something that the club deemed to be too much for Alvarez. They like his intangibles and character that much. There are no moments, those close to him say, that are too big.
“It’s something that I talked about with Buck with the rest of the coaching staff, a number of the people in our major-league operations, some of our development personnel,” Eppler said. “We source that and have those kinds of conversations. And, you know, everybody was in favor of this one.”
Make no mistake: They love his raw power. It’s the absolute last card they had left in the deck to play with the hopes of fixing their problem against lefties. Friday, even Alvarez’s presence didn’t help.
With one out in the ninth inning and the bases loaded, he struck out on three pitches, taking massive hacks and losing his bat on one swing for the second time in the game. Already, there aren’t many chances left for Alvarez to help. That might create a situation in which a young player tries to do too much. Still, at this juncture, he presents a chance worth taking.
(Photo of Jacob deGrom: John Bazemore / Associated Press)
