NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 15: Jacob deGrom #48 of the New York Mets reacts after Justin Bour #48 of the Miami Marlins scored in the fourth inning on September 15, 2015 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom was smacked around again on Tuesday, but he's determined to keep pitching down the stretch and doesn't favor a potential plan to skip or push back one of his starts.
"I'd like to keep pitching," deGrom said after giving up six earned runs and a season-high 10 hits in the Mets' 9-3 loss the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.
"I've had bad starts before, and it's kind of how you react after them. So, I'd like to get back out there," he added.
After bringing his ERA down to a paltry 1.98, deGrom's ERA has shot up to 2.64, as he has held a 6.41 ERA over his last five starts.
During that stretch, the 27-year-old righty's usually supreme location has been absent, which is often a telltale sign of fatigue in a pitcher.
That's a notion to which deGrom doesn't subscribe.
"I don't think that at all," deGrom said of him potentially being fatigued. "It was just a start where in the fourth and five inning I couldn't locate the ball and left it over the middle. I felt fine early in the game, and then just in those innings was leaving balls up and over the middle of the plate."
Manager Terry Collins and the Mets brass have recently contemplated skipping or postponing one of deGrom's remaining regular-season starts, but they have yet to makes plans to do so.
"There were some pretty good swings, which indicate to me there were balls that were not in the right place," Collins said. "He's pretty frustrated right now."
(h/t MLB.com)
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