Fortunes ‘shift’ in worst way possible for Mets’ ace Jacob deGrom

Jacob deGrom charged into the dugout after getting the final out of the third inning Thursday one upset Cy Young winner.

The Mets were in a shift, with St. Louis’ speedy Harrison Bader on third base and two outs in the inning. Because Bader was bluffing toward home plate, third baseman Todd Frazier had to position himself closer to the bag than he normally would in the shift.

Shortstop Amed Rosario was no longer a shortstop and was playing infield rover.

Lefty-hitting Matt Carpenter bounced a five-hopper to the vacant shortstop hole and because the shift was on and Frazier was near third base to keep Bader close, the ball became a hit — allowing Bader to score to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

After the final out of the inning, deGrom ran down the dugout steps, threw his glove against the back wall and knocked over a number of items.

Frustrated he had given up a run on what should have been an easy third out, deGrom was furious. The strange night ended in a 4-4 tie game at rainy Citi Field that was suspended and will be picked up at 6:10 Friday night with the Mets batting in the bottom of the ninth.

The Mets did not shift against Carpenter later in the game.

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“You make a pitch and feel like it’s an out and nobody’s there, I was frustrated,’’ deGrom said later. “I think anybody would be, the goal is not to give up runs. I thought I was out of the inning.’’

Because Frazier had to guard the runner, he wasn’t able to cover more of the shortstop area, so the shift was not optimum — even though Shift Apologists will never admit that.

“I did go in and look and he does not hit the ball there very often, I think it’s been a year since he hit a ground ball to short, so I think that’s the mindset behind it,’’ deGrom said of Carpenter.

Carpenter’s mindset was to put the ball in play with Bader on third to an area where there was no fielder.

“All that goes to why I was frustrated,” deGrom admitted. “I thought I made a pitch and I beat him and it just went to where nobody was at.’’

Asked when he last experienced such frustration, deGrom thought long and hard before answering, “There were a few starts where I was giving up a bunch of runs and I was pretty frustrated.’’

Michael Conforto lined a two-run home run in the third and the Mets added two runs in the sixth after Paul DeJong hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth, so deGrom left after seven with a 4-2 lead.

DeGrom’s frustrating night kicked into another gear in the ninth. With rain coming down, umpires halted the game, but Pete Alonso implored them to play on and the tarp was rolled back up when the rain softened.

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The delay was nine minutes. Edwin Diaz came on and allowed two runs as the Cardinals tied the score, 4-4.

Amazingly, deGrom lost any chance at a victory. He is 1-6 over his past 12 games, with five no-decisions.

After the game was tied, the umpires decided to put the tarp down and the game was later suspended.

Mickey Callaway thought the Mets’ bullpen issues were behind them, but this was yet another bullpen boondoggle as Diaz surrendered a walk, a single and a double in the ninth. The blown save was his third of the season. Not as bad as the four runs and two homers he allowed in the ninth against the Dodgers in a 9-8 loss on May 29 that blew the win for Noah Syndergaard, but still not good.

At Arizona on June 1, deGrom was taken out with a hip cramp with two outs in the seventh inning and a 3-1 lead. When the dust settled, the Mets were 6-5 losers, another lead given away by the bullpen.

That is a lot of frustration for deGrom.

DeGrom has never gotten a ton of support from teammates. But considering the shift hit that gave away an early run and the late brutal performance by the bullpen, this was an especially cruel night for one frustrated Cy Young winner.

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