Tony Plate - deGrom Wins Mets Season Opener!

PC - Ed Delany

When two Cy Young Award winners go against each other in a season opener the fans get extra fired up for a good pitching duel. 

Jacob deGrom needless to say was the best pitcher in the National League in 2018. His amazing statistics enabled him to win the National League Cy Young Award. He received 29 out of the 30 first-place votes. He gave up no more than three runs in his last twenty-nine starts which was a single-season record. He finished the season with a 10-9 record, a 1.70 ERA, 32 games started, 217 innings pitched, 269 strikeouts, allowing 10 home runs and 46 walks. 

The one vote that did not go to deGrom went to Max Scherzer who finished the season 18-7 with a 2.53 earned run average. Scherzer had won the Cy Young Award the previous two seasons. The two pitchers faced off in the season opener for both the New York Mets and the Washington Nationals.

deGrom, picked up right where he left off from last season with a well-pitched game by defeating Max Scherzer 2-0 at Nationals park. 

deGrom said that he was really nervous and there was some pressure on him.  He threw six scoreless innings with ten strikeouts. Scherzer went seven and two-thirds innings, struck out 12 and gave up two earned runs. 

Robinson Cano hit a home run to the opposite field over the left-center-field wall and drove in a run with an RBI single to the opposite field in the eighth inning. Also, he turned in a fine double play in the third inning when Anthony Rendon’s grounder rolled slowly and Jeff McNeil fielded it and threw to Cano, but Victor Robles made a base running mistake after Cano threw to home plate which made Robles freeze and became a little confused which led to a rundown and the out. 

Edwin Diaz retired the side in order in the ninth for his first save.

After a Met teammate voiced his opinion about the deGrom extension wondering why the talks have taken so long ,suggesting that the team quit all of the fuss and just pay the pitcher plus stating he deserves whatever amount he is worth last week deGrom reached an agreement on a five-year, $137.5 million contract extension. deGrom showed everyone that he is worth the amount of the contract extension that he signed with his win over the Nationals.