Despite having Jacob deGrom on the mound, the New York Mets fell to the Atlanta Braves, losing their chance to clinch the NL East during their current road series. deGrom struck out 11 Braves batters but also allowed three home runs (all solo blasts) in six innings.

The Mets pulled deGrom after 86 pitches due to a blister on his throwing hand. According to Paul Casella of MLB.com, the two-time Cy Young award winner explained that the decision to leave the game early was precautionary.

“It was there a little bit last start, then it popped,” Jacob deGrom said, via MLB.com. “Now, it's just that dead skin peeling away. So it's kind of working its way back further on my nail. The goal is to get it better, and we didn't want to make it worse where the [next] start is in question.”

deGrom's start against the Braves was moved up to Friday night so that he could get back on track after struggling against the Oakland Athletics. He said that the blister was not to blame for his mistakes. “I don't think it really affected me, I just threw some pitches down the middle…I left some balls over the middle of the plate, and they did damage on them.”

The Mets can still clinch the division but it will be a lot harder now. They will have to rack up at least one win against the Braves to ensure their chances, as the teams are tied at records of 98-59 and each has five more games remaining, two of which are against each other.