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PHILADELPHIA | DeGrom goes distance, drops ERA to 1.71, Mets top Phils 3-1

PHILADELPHIA— Jacob deGrom pitched his first complete game of the season and lowered his major league-leading ERA to 1.71, weathering a rain delay and leading the New York Mets over the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1 Saturday.

DeGrom (8-7) kept boosting his NL Cy Young Award credentials and allowed only an unearned run, the result of his own error. He walked none, struck out nine and threw his hardest pitch, a 99 mph fastball, on the next-to-last of his 108 pitches.

DeGrom has thrown three complete games in 132 starts in the majors. He tossed a one-hitter at Citizens Bank Park on July 17, 2016, in a 5-0 win over the Phillies.

It appeared that deGrom’s day might be cut short due to a 41-minute rain delay that began in the middle of the fourth. But the Mets right-hander came back after the stoppage as strong as before it.

DeGrom was so eager to resume that he walked toward the Philadelphia dugout to get a ball to warm up. He began to get loose on the mound before the umpires returned and prior to the Phillies’ grounds crew raking the field. He was forced to wait several minutes before throwing his final warmup toss as the field was being groomed.

But it didn’t bother deGrom.

He allowed a leadoff single to Rhys Hoskins in the fourth and then retired nine of 10 before the seventh when Philadelphia got its lone run against the Mets ace.

DeGrom pulled within two starts of Dwight Gooden’s club record with his 22nd consecutive start allowing three runs or less. He also eclipsed 200 strikeouts, finishing with 204 for the season. The two-time All-Star entered second in the NL and sixth in the majors in Ks. Hoskins and Maikel Franco each doubled among their two hits for the Phillies, who began the day a half-game behind Atlanta in the NL East and leading the NL wild-card race.

Jake Arrieta (9-8) allowed one run on four hits with six strikeouts and no walks in six strong innings.

The Mets went ahead in the fourth when Jeff McNeil scored from third on Wilmer Flores’ single that caromed off the third-base bag and into left field.

New York took a 3-0 lead in the seventh with a pair of runs off Luis Garcia. Devin Mesoraco homered and Amed Rosario scored on McNeil’s first career triple.

The Phillies scored their lone run off deGrom in the seventh after Nick Williams and Franco hit consecutive one-out singles. Williams scored when deGrom couldn’t handle Rosario’s throw from short on a potential double-play on Odubel Herrera’s groundball. But the Mets got out of the inning when deGrom threw to first, where second baseman McNeil tagged out Herrera, who couldn’t get back to the bag after making a move toward second base.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mets: OF Jay Bruce (sore right hip), on the DL since June 18, went 0 for 3 in a rehab outing with Single-A St. Lucie on Friday night.

Phillies: RHP Jerad Eickhoff is scheduled to throw 75 pitches in a rehab outing with Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Sunday. Eickhoff has been out all season with a right lat strain.

UP NEXT

The teams wrap up their five-game series on Sunday night at Bowman Field in Williamsport as part of the Little League Classic.

Mets LHP Jason Vargas (2-8, 8.10) opposes Phillies RHP Nick Pivetta (7-9, 4.37). Vargas has struggled but had success against the Phillies the last time he faced them in 2011 with Seattle, pitching a three-hit shutout.