Jacob deGrom pitched just one inning in the Mets' intrasquad game on Tuesday night at Citi Field.
After the game, the Mets announced that the right-hander was pulled early due to back tightness. No other details were given.
The 32-year-old appeared to be grimacing as he left the mound after his first and only inning of work.
DeGrom is coming off back-to-back Cy Young Award wins, as he's simply dominated big-league hitters over the past two seasons, pitching to a 2.32 ERA with a 0.941 WHIP and 2.32 FIP.
The star right-hander has avoided the injury bug for much of his major league career, as he's started at least 30 games in each of the last three seasons for the Mets.
Prior to Tuesday's game, the last time deGrom took the mound was last Friday, when he threw three scoreless innings during a sim game, allowing just one hit.
After Friday's game, manager Luis Rojas said he was very pleased by how deGrom has looked.
“He looked really good,” Rojas said. “Easy again, repeated his delivery with all of his pitches, velo was there, changeup, slider. He elevated the ball when he needed to. I think that the hitters are starting to feel that timing right now. The first inning, Jed leading off, I thought he found some good swings against his pitches, but he was Jake.
“It was good to see just how easy he can throw the ball. How easy he can mix his pitches and roll with that. So, I think he was great.”
DeGrom said earlier during Summer Camp that his goal was to ramp up to 85 pitches heading into his presumed Opening Day start against the Atlanta Braves on July 24.
