Washington Nationals deGrominated: Jacob deGrom strikes out 15, retires final 19 in 6-0 win...

Erick Fedde was able to hang with Jacob deGrom through four scoreless innings, but the NY Mets’ ace drove in the first run in a three-run fifth, and dominated the Washington Nationals’ hitters through nine scoreless in which he struck out 15 of 29 batters faced, collecting 14+ strikeouts for the third consecutive outing, which is fairly ridiculous. He also retired the final 19 batters he faced. Final score: 6-0 Mets.

Fedde vs NY: If you throw away his first outing this season, which Erick Fedde would likely like to, the 28-year-old, 2014 1st Round pick had a 1.86 ERA, three walks, 14 Ks, and a stingy .206/.270/.294 line against in his last 9 ²⁄₃ innings heading into tonight’s game, after he’d given six runs in just 1 ²⁄₃ IP in his 2021 debut.

“He’s getting better, and that’s all we can ask of him,” manager Davey Martinez said after the third start of the year for Fedde. “But he’s working, I know he’s talking to [Pitching Coach] Jim Hickey about different things, but he’s out there, he’s competing, and he’s getting better. If we can keep him right there he’s got a chance to compete and win a few games for us.”

Fedde was (1-1) after three starts, with the Nationals 2-1 in his outings, before tonight’s start in Flushing, Queens, NY’s Citi Field, which began with a 15-pitch, 1-2-3 first, but he issued a leadoff walk to Pete Alonso in the home-half of the second, and a Michael Conforto single to left sent Alonso around to third, with no one out. Fedde got out No. 1 on a foul tip strike three from J.D. Davis, and then an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play, on a Jeff McNeil ground ball to second base, got him out of the early jam.

Fedde retired eight straight after the first two batters reached base in the second, finishing four scoreless on 56 pitches as he traded zeroes with Mets’ ace Jacob deGrom. He was up to nine in-a-row set down when he hit J.D. Davis with one down in the Mets’ half of the fifth, and a walk to Jeff McNeil set deGrom up with an RBI opportunity he cashed in with an oppo double to left field that drove in the first run of the game for either team, 1-0 Mets.

With runners on second and third with one out, Fedde got a groundout to third from Tomás Nido for out No. 2, but Brandon Nimmo shot a two-out, two-run grounder through the right side to make it a 3-0 game in NY’s favor...

Erick Fedde’s Line: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 Ks, 82 P, 54 S, 9/1 GO/FO.

deGrom vs D.C.: In his first three outings of the 2021 campaign, Mets’ ace Jacob deGrom gave up just one earned run (0.45 ERA) in 20 IP, though opposing teams have three other unearned runs in his starts, over which he’d walked three and struck out 35. 35. Thirty. Five.

He had 14 Ks in each of his previous two starts before tonight’s outing (vs just one walk).

In an impressive stretch against the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field last time out, deGrom struck out nine straight batters, one shy of Mets’ legend Tom Seaver’s MLB record 10 in-a-row.

“Honestly, I didn’t know how many I had in a row, and you’ll have to tell me what the record is,” deGrom said, as quoted on SNY when told he was a K short of tying Seaver’s mark.

deGrom came out dealing tonight, picking up two Ks in a 13-pitch, 12-strike, 1-2-3 first in which he threw eight fastballs at 100 MPH or more.

After tossing five scoreless frames on 62 pitches, and striking out nine of 17 batters faced, deGrom drove in the first run of the game for either team, for the first of three runs for the Mets in the bottom of the fifth, and he came back out and struck out the side in the sixth, collecting Ks Nos. 10-12 and completing his sixth scoreless frame at just 75 pitches.

Trea Turner K’d swinging for strikeout No. 13 and the 11th straight out in the first at bat of the Nats’ seventh, and Josh Bell chased a 92 MPH two-strike changeup for No. 14 and No. 12 in a row, and Kyle Schwarber made it 15 and 13 when he took a called strike three for the sixth K in a row.

deGrom, shockingly, didn’t record any strikeouts in the eighth, but he set the Nats down in order in an eight-pitch frame that gave him 16 straight outs from Nationals’ hitters.

deGrom returned for the top of the ninth, at 100 pitches, with a 6-0 lead, and retired the side in order for outs Nos. 17-19 in a row.

Jacob deGrom’s Line: 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 15 Ks, 109 P, 84 S, 8/4 GO/FO.

Jackie Robinson Day 2.0: Both the Nationals and Mets honored Jackie Robinson tonight by wearing Robinson’s No. 42, due to a postponement in the Mets’ game on 4/15, when MLB celebrated Jackie Robinson Day on the anniversary of Robinson breaking MLB’s color barrier by becoming the first African-American player to play in Major League Baseball on April 15, 1947.

The Nationals celebrated the anniversary on April 15th in D.C., at which point skipper Davey Martinez shared his thoughts on the day and what Robinson meant to baseball and the U.S. as a country.

“Jackie is not here but never forgotten, as you know in this game. He broke barriers, and in this world we live in today we got to remember that it’s a struggle. And we’ve got to keep pulling forward, keep going forward, and he’s the one that represents that for most of us if not all of us.”

Bullpen Action: Kyle Finnegan took over for the Nationals in the bottom of the sixth inning, with the Nationals trailing, 3-0, and stranded two batters in a 21-pitch frame.

Austin Voth gave up a one-out double by Brandon Nimmo with one down in the Mets’ half of the seventh, and a two-out RBI single to left-center by Dom Smith made it 4-0 NY. Two more reached base on a single and a walk with two out, loading them up for J.D. Davis, who K’d looking to end the threat.

Kyle McGowin gave up a two-run blast by Brandon Nimmo in the bottom of the eighth, 6-0.

Final Score: 6-0 Mets

Nationals now 7-10