NEW YORK -- Mets ace Jacob deGrom equaled a career high with 13 strikeouts and posted his eighth straight start in which he allowed one run or fewer against the Cubs in a 7-1 loss on Saturday night at Citi Field.
deGrom fired seven innings of one-run ball vs. Chicago. After whiffing Kristopher Bryant to finish the seventh inning on his season-high 116th pitch, he was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the frame. In all, he allowed seven hits and two walks to go with the 13 strikeouts.
"I had good control of my fastball and was getting it in on guys," deGrom said after the game. "They found some holes, but I was able to pitch out of some jams. Sometimes those bloops fall in."
This was deGrom's fifth time striking out 13 in a game, including postseason appearances. The 2014 National League Rookie of the Year has double-digit strikeouts in four games this season and 25 for his career. His run of eight starts allowing one run or fewer extends a franchise record. In those eight starts, he has allowed three runs over 47 1/3 innings -- a 0.57 ERA.
deGrom didn't give up much in the way of hard-hit balls and twice escaped bases-loaded situations. In the first inning, the Cubs loaded the bases on three soft singles, and he eluded damage with strikeouts of Willson Contreras and Kyle Schwarber. He got Schwarber to swing through a 99-mph fastball at the top of the strike zone.
The right-hander gave up the one run when Jason Heyward, Bryant and Anthony Rizzo opened the sixth with back-to-back-to-back singles. The frame ended with deGrom getting a pair of strikeouts -- Albert Almora Jr. and Addison Russell -- with the bases loaded
deGrom will take a 4-0 record and a 1.49 ERA into his next start, which will come during next weekend's three-game series against the Yankees.