Recap of the Mets vs. Braves: deGrom dominates, I dig deep when Mets win

On the strangest Opening Day in franchise history, the Mets offered a show of normalcy this afternoon at Citi Field as they began their season, as they have done so many times, with a win.

Between the noise of the crowd, the cardboard cutouts occupying some parts of the seats, and SNY’s introduction of a live K zone in a real baseball game, the experience itself was quite disorienting. But Jacob deGrom did what he usually does, making it seem easy to get out of the big league level. Because he had a setback during summer camp with some low-back strain, deGrom limited himself to a lower pitch count than it would have been, but he threw 72 pitches in five brilliant and scoreless innings of work. He struck out eight, walked one, and gave just one hit.

The most modern thing to do here would be to complain about the Mets’ lack of production on the plate at the start of Chrome. But the Mets’ hitters were scored goalless in six innings by Mike Soroka, who had a 2.68 ERA last year in a terrific rookie season and garnered some Cy Young votes in the process. Soroka only struck out three and gave up four hits, but was mostly in control during his start. JD Davis nearly hit a two-run homer against him in the bottom of the fifth, but Ender Inciarte made a great catch in center field, robbing Davis of a flying ball that clearly would have passed the orange line in the garden fence.

So, with deGrom on the mound, the Mets’ bullpen, which was awful for most of last year, was tasked with throwing at least four innings in a game that was unrated at the time. Seth Lugo pitched two scoreless innings, struck out three and got out of a bind when Marcell Ozuna doubled with one out in the seventh and moved to third with a pass from Wilson Ramos.

Lugo’s second inning set the stage for Yoenis Céspedes, who tattooed a shot by Braves reliever Chris Martin high above the wall in left field in his first appearance in a major league game in two years. Cespedes was the Mets’ first designated hitter in a National League game, and the home run ended up being the difference in the game.

Justin Wilson threw an eighth scoreless inning despite giving up a single to Dansby Swanson to start the inning. He received a little help from Andrés Giménez, who played a soft game at second base, having entered the game as a defensive replacement to start the inning, changing the course of covering the bag in one hit and fleeing to retire Johan Camargo in a helicopter he hit his left. And Wilson himself ended the inning hard, striking out Ronald Acuña Jr. to put Swanson in second place.

As the Mets’ offense yielded nothing else, Edwin Diaz took over the ninth inning and, despite handing Freddie Freeman a very long foul ball with an inning out before finally walking it, he was saved. He also made a couple of strikeouts in the inning, ending the game with a strikeout from Matt Adams, who had spent spring training and most of summer camp with the Mets before seeking and earning his release and signing with the Braves. .

The guy the Mets had just left appeared in a great place while playing for a division rival, and the Mets prevailed. These are, in fact, strange times.

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What is WPA?

Big Mets winner: Jacob deGrom, + 27.2% WPA
Big loser of the Mets: Pete Alonso, -10.0% WPA
Mets launchers: + 70% WPA
Mets hitters: -20% WPA
Aw3s0’s first move: Yoenis Céspedes hit a solo homer in the seventh, + 23.3% WPA
The sux0rest game: Dansby Swanson picks in eighth, -8.8% WPA