BOSTON _ While something less than his most dominant self, Jacob deGrom inched closer to winning the NL Cy Young Award on Sunday in the Mets' 4-3 loss to the Red Sox.
DeGrom held Boston _ the highest-scoring team in baseball _ to three runs in seven innings. He struck out 12 and allowed five hits and one walk. His 1.78 ERA, up from 1.71 to begin the day, is still the best in baseball _ and the best in the National League by a significant margin over the Phillies' Aaron Nola (2.42) and the Nationals' Max Scherzer (2.53), who both had rough starts in recent days.
The right-handed ace lost control of the game for about four batters _ seven pitches _ in the third inning. After striking out six of the first seven Red Sox, deGrom got ahead of Rafael Devers 0-and-2 but left a fastball over the heart of the plate. Devers lined it to center for a single to become Boston's first baserunner.
Then came Christian Vazquez's single, a smooth hit-and-run that got Devers to third, and Mookie Betts' sacrifice fly to right. Brock Holt got ahold of a 1-and-0 fastball, also over the middle of the plate, for a two-run home run to cap the three-run inning. DeGrom rebounded by retiring 12 of his final 14 batters.
After the Mets' eighth-inning potential rally ended before it even began _ pinch runner Jack Reinheimer was picked off first base _ deGrom ended up with another no-decision. He is 8-9 with two scheduled starts remaining.
DeGrom's Cy Young case is built on the idea that wins and losses are not an effective way to measure a pitcher's effectiveness, an increasingly popular stance that meets resistance from old-school observers. As Red Sox manager Alex Cora put it over the weekend: "He's been amazing. Forget the record. Look at the real numbers. It's impressive."
In five starts since his most recent win (Aug. 18), deGrom has a 2.12 ERA.
In 13 no-decisions, deGrom has a 1.62 ERA.
DeGrom's 22 consecutive quality starts are tied for the single-season major-league record. The two others to do it: Bob Gibson in 1968, when pitchers were so dominant that MLB lowered the mound after the season, and Chris Carpenter in 2005.
The Mets gave up the lead about as soon as deGrom exited. Seth Lugo allowed one run in the eighth, when Andrew Benintendi singled to drive in Tzu-Wei Lin (double).
Amed Rosario and Michael Conforto had two hits and an RBI each.
