Nearly 20 minutes after this technical knockout, Mets starter Jacob deGrom stood up against his locker, a stocking cap covering his mop of dark hair. It was late Wednesday night, and deGrom had been left battered and cut by the Royals offensive attack, an ace swallowed up by a gathering storm, and he did not quite know how to explain it.
He had felt fine, he said. His stuff had been solid. His location was a little off, and he had missed with too many pitches, and perhaps that was a problem. But then deGrom offered the best summation he could conjure.