Aug 18, 2018 3 min read

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.

Baltimore 4, Cleveland 2: Alex Cobb pitched a five-hitter for his first complete game in five years, and the Baltimore Orioles snapped Cleveland’s six-game win streak with a 4-2 victory over the Indians.

Cobb, the major league leader with 15 losses, struck out three and walked one in his fourth career complete game.

N.Y. Yankees 11, Toronto 6: Giancarlo Stanton hit one of New York’s four homers, and the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 11-6.

Didi Gregorius, Miguel Andujar and Greg Bird also connected as New York moved 31 games over .500, matching a season high. Andujar had three hits and three RBI, and Gregorius also drove in three runs.

Oakland 7, Houston 1: Trevor Cahill pitched one-hit ball for seven innings and the Oakland Athletics, far behind in the AL West standings earlier this summer, tied Houston for the division lead by beating the Astros 7-1.

Khris Davis, Matt Olson, Josh Phegley and Stephen Piscotty each hit two of Oakland’s team record-tying doubles as the A’s won for the sixth time in seven games. The Athletics trailed the defending World Series champion Astros by 11 ½ games on June 24. Houston has lost seven of eight.