NEW YORK (AP) — Jazz Chisholm Jr. watched Jacob deGrom’s first 100 mph fastball whiz by and wasn’t impressed.
“People were saying, ‘It’s an angry 100, it gets on you,’” the Marlins’ brazen, blue-haired Bahamian said. “It didn’t really get on me like I was expecting.”
“Some people’s 100 is a little lighter,” he added. “To me, it felt like he was on the lighter side.”
Safe to say, Miami’s youngsters don’t scare easily.
Chisholm hit a stunning homer off an otherwise dominant deGrom, Trevor Rogers beat the two-time Cy Young Award winner for the second time and the Marlins blanked the New York Mets 3-0 Saturday.
DeGrom (0-1) matched a career best with 14 strikeouts over eight innings, the 23-year-old Rogers (1-1) fanned 10 in six and the teams combined for 28 overall.
For a while, the difference was Chisholm’s rip in the second inning.
DeGrom looked unhittable early — until the 23-year-old Chisholm barreled a 100.4 mph, 0-2 fastball thrown above the strike zone. The left-handed hitter’s drive reached the second deck in right field for a 1-0 lead and was estimated at 402 feet.
Chisholm took a 100 mph strike to start the at-bat, then found himself swinging too quick for a 99 mph pitch. He claims he was looking for something offspeed when deGrom reached back for a third straight heater — 100 above the letters.
“He threw me a fastball up and I just reacted to it,” said Chisholm, who called deGrom the best pitcher in baseball. “Got my hands above the ball, and yeah, it was a homer.”
It was the first 0-2 home run deGrom has allowed in the majors.
“He sold out for it,” deGrom said. “Probably should have done a better job recognizing he was going to try to get to that fastball.”
The next time Chisholm came up, deGrom struck him out with one…
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