PITTSBURGH _ Jacob deGrom worked another seven mostly effective innings Saturday in the Mets' 5-0 loss to the Pirates. He allowed three runs and eight hits, struck out five and walked none. By deGrom's 2018 standards, it was a mediocre outing. Given the way the Mets' offense has backed him up this year, it turned into another loss.
The evening brought deGrom's innings total on the year to 1381/3; if he starts every fifth game and keeps pace with his average of about 6.5 frames per outing, he'll finish the year at about 215 innings _ a total that would be a career high and would have led the majors last season.
And thus the Mets are presented with a new question in the final third of a lost season: Will they have to monitor their starters' workload?
DeGrom's total, by virtue of his dominance, is climbing quickly. Zack Wheeler, at 1141/3 innings, already is at his highest mark since 2014. Steven Matz, like Wheeler, is well past his 2017 total and is a few turns away from matching his personal about 140 innings, done in 2014 and 2015 (combining majors and minors).
For deGrom, the Mets' horse and their only consistently healthy starter, the answer is simpler. The Mets almost definitely won't limit him, considering certain external circumstances.
"You don't want to hinder what he is trying to do as a person and personally in his career, because he is in line to do something special," manager Mickey Callaway said. "You have to keep that in mind."
In other words, deGrom is a leading candidate for the National League Cy Young Award. You can be sure the Mets will grant deGrom, assuming he is healthy, every chance to finish that chase.
If the Mets need to, they can adjust deGrom's offseason regimen to account for his in-season strain, Callaway said. The former Indians pitching coach did that when Cleveland starters such as Corey Kluber _ a two-time Cy Young Award winner _ had heavy years.
"If we need to push him for whatever reason and he gets to keep on pitching and gets to that 220-inning mark, we can make some significant adjustments to his winter routine to put him in a good spot for next year," said Callaway, who noted that with other pitchers the Mets will rely heavily on their feedback and measures of their physical condition. "I think 220 wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility because he threw 200 last year, so that's not a huge jump. He's probably going to get there with the way he's pitching."
Saturday helped. DeGrom cruised most of the night, carrying a shutout through his first 52/3 innings. The Pirates struck in the sixth when _ with two outs _ Gregory Polanco blooped a single, stole second and scored on Colin Moran's ground single.
David Freese (RBI groundout) and Adam Frazier (RBI double, 3-for-4 against deGrom) added runs in the seventh.
That hill proved to be a mountain for the Mets' lineup. DeGrom went 2-for-3 with a double. Everybody else went 4-for-29 with no extra-base hits.
Trevor Williams outpitched deGrom, going six scoreless and allowing five hits and three walks.
That made a loser of deGrom, whose ERA rose to 1.82, still best in the majors. His record, increasingly considered a poor measure of a pitcher's performance with deGrom's season serving as an excellent case study, is 5-6. In the half-dozen losses, deGrom has a 3.00 ERA. In 10 no-decisions, 1.44.
