Jacob deGrom's third All-Star Game appearance was over in the blink of an eye.
The Mets ace had an easy seven-pitch, 1-2-3 bottom of the third as he tied Dwight Gooden for the second-most All-Star appearances by a Mets pitcher with three. Only Tom Seaver has more with six.
DeGrom struck out Astros slugger George Springer, then got Yankees hit machine DJ LeMahieu out on a bouncer back to the mound. Up next was Mike Trout, who homered off deGrom last year, but this time the Mets ace won by getting Trout to pop out to first base on a fastball.
"Any time you get to go face the best that's what you're here for. That's what you want to do," deGrom said about facing the top of the AL lineup. "I saw it was going to be those three guys and was looking forward to it, looking forward to the challenge."
It was the second perfect All-Star inning of deGrom's career, with his only blip being the Trout home run last year in Washington D.C. Obviously, deGrom was thinking of that as the two-time MVP stepped up to the plate.
"Yeah, I knew he hit a changeup out last year," deGrom said. "So definitely wanted to get him out today."