Jacob deGrom threw two warm-up pitches before the start of the sixth inning Sunday — and was soon in discussions with the trainer about the remainder of his afternoon.
The previous inning had been un-deGrom-like, with three walks issued to the Diamondbacks. Something wasn’t right with the Mets ace.
Removed for precautionary reasons with what the team called right-side tightness, deGrom watched the reminder from the sidelines as the Mets extended their winning streak to a season-high five games with a 4-2 victory at Citi Field.
Miguel Castro, Jacob Barnes and Edwin Diaz combined to allow one run over four innings, continuing a strong stretch by the bullpen, which has pitched to a 1.71 ERA since April 22.
DeGrom, who was scratched from his scheduled Tuesday start because of right lat inflammation, allowed one earned run on one hit over five innings with six strikeouts and three walks. The run allowed nudged his ERA from 0.51 to 0.68.
The Mets won for the third time in their last four in which they scored exactly four runs. In the other, they scored four runs over nine innings before winning on a walk-off in the 10th.
DeGrom’s bunt single in the third was a key play in an inning in which the Mets scored twice. James McCann singled leading off the inning and deGrom’s bunt to third base went for a hit, with Eduardo Escobar’s throw to first sailing wild, giving the Mets runners on second and third with nobody out. Francisco Lindor’s sacrifice fly brought in a run and Michael Conforto’s RBI single delivered another.
The Mets extended their lead to 3-1 in the sixth, without getting a hit. Patrick Mazeika walked with the bases loaded to force in the run, after Pete Alonso and Jonathan Villar walked and Dominic Smith was hit by a pitch.
Smith delivered an RBI single in the seventh after Escobar’s fielding error allowed Lindor to reach and begin the rally. Asdrubal Cabrera got that run back for the Diamondbacks in the eighth with a homer against Jacob Barnes.
DeGrom worked four perfect innings before encountering trouble in the fifth, when he walked three batters. But the Diamondbacks scored only once in the inning, to pull within 2-1, in large part because deGrom got Nick Ahmed to hit into a double play.
After David Peralta walked leading off the inning, Stephen Vogt hit a drive that landed between diving Kevin Pillar and Conforto in right-center for a double. Escobar walked to load the bases before Ahmed’s double-play grounder brought in the run. DeGrom followed with a walk to Daulton Varsho, but escaped further trouble by striking out Christian Walker.
