SAN FRANCISCO — It’s likely that Max Scherzer, Gerrit Cole and Zack Greinke are far ahead of Jacob deGrom in the race to start for the National League in the All-Star Game, but the Mets ace sure had a nice audition in front of Bruce Bochy on Wednesday afternoon.
The hard-throwing right-hander struck out 10 in eight scoreless innings to lead the Mets to a 4-1 win. The loss was the eighth in nine games for the Giants, who scored just four runs during this three-game series.
On an overcast day at AT&T Park, Jake Peavy and deGrom matched goose eggs into the sixth, when a throwing error cost the Giants a run.
Ruben Tejada hit a one-out single and Daniel Murphy followed with a grounder deep into the hole at short. Brandon Crawford stopped the ball with a dive and tried to pivot and throw Tejada out from one knee. The ball sailed wide of second base and rolled all the way to the visiting dugout, allowing Tejada to score easily.
Peavy stranded Murphy but gave up back-to-back singles to start the seventh. Juan Lagares drove in a second Mets run with a grounder to third.
The Giants had just two hits against deGrom, who was dominant from start to finish. His 10th strikeout came on his 99th pitch and ended the eighth inning. The pitch was a 96 mph fastball.
The Giants brought the tying run to the plate off the Mets bullpen in the ninth, but Andrew Susac grounded out to second.
Starting pitching report: Peavy has been sharp since returning from the disabled list. He gave up two runs — one earned — in seven innings. In two starts back, Peavy has allowed just nine hits and three earned runs over 13 1/3 innings.
Bullpen report: Josh Osich needed just seven pitches to get through the eighth inning. He hasn’t given up a hit in his first four big league appearances.
At the plate: Nope.
In the field: Justin Maxwell hasn’t hit much the last couple of months, but he’s still a plus defender in the outfield. Maxwell made a slick sliding grab a few feet in front of the wall down the third-base line, getting an out on a ball that looked like a foul pop-up when Curtis Granderson hit it.
Attendance: The Giants announced a crowd of 41,914 human beings who did not expect to be damp.
Up next: A day off! After that, the Giants close the first half with a three-game series with the Phillies. Friday night’s game is a monster: Cole Hamels vs. Madison Bumgarner. The Phillies will turn to David Buchanan and Chad Billingsley over the weekend while the Giants have Ryan Vogelsong and Chris Heston lined up.
