New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom Dealing With Blood Blister, Cut Cuticle
ATLANTA - The Mets dropped their series opener against the Braves at Truist Park by a score of 5-2 on Friday, which became out of reach once starter Jacob deGrom didn't come back out for the seventh inning.
DeGrom had thrown just 86 pitches across six innings, while striking out 11 batters and allowing three runs on three solo home runs. Tylor Megill entered in the seventh and gave up two runs, which saw the Braves extend their lead to 5-1.
As it later turned out, deGrom exited after six due to a blood blister and cut cuticle on his right middle finger.
According to the two-time Cy Young Award winner, the blister had initially formed during his previous start, in which he allowed five runs to the Oakland Athletics last weekend.
"I had it a little bit in my last start and then it popped and the skin underneath my nail kind of peeled off," deGrom said. "It started getting pretty aggravated and then we were debating whether or not to keep going with it. We decided that was enough. Don't want it to become a bigger issue than it is."
In the end, deGrom blamed himself for allowing three homers and making mistakes to a dangerous Braves lineup.
"That's a good lineup over there. You've gotta eliminate mistakes, which I didn't do tonight. I left balls over the middle of the plate and they did damage."
DeGrom went on to acknowledge how frustrating it is to drop the first game of a critical series with the Braves with the division on the line.
"The goal is to go out there and put up zeroes and like I said I wasn't able to do it," he said. "That's on me."
The Mets and Braves are now tied atop the NL East with five games to go in the regular season. These two divisional foes will play each other two more times this weekend, in which they will jostle for positioning in a heated race.
Max Scherzer will face Kyle Wright on Saturday night in Game 2 of the series, as the Mets will look to reclaim sole possession of first place.
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