New York Mets ace right-hander Jacob deGrom was scheduled to undergo an MRI on his lower back after he left Sunday afternoon’s start against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After warming up for the sixth inning, deGrom departed with what originally was labeled tightness in his right side. His discomfort was updated to the area of the right side of his lower back.
Scratched from his scheduled start Tuesday due to a sore right lat, deGrom set down the first 12 batters he faced Sunday on just 39 pitches. The two-time National League Cy Young Award recipient labored in the fifth inning and appeared to grimace a handful of times while allowing one run on one hit and three walks.
As a hitter, deGrom struck out swinging in the bottom of the fifth and took two warmup tosses prior to the top of the sixth before catcher James McCann motioned to the dugout. After a visit with manager Luis Rojas and a trainer, deGrom walked off the field and into the clubhouse. The Mets said the exit was precautionary.
The outing caused deGrom’s ERA rise from 0.51 to 0.68. He singled in the third for his seventh hit of the season and scored on Michael Conforto’s RBI single.