Jacob deGrom, who allowed two runs over six innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLDS on Thursday night, said the appearance was one of the most difficult of his brief career.

"I think that's probably the hardest I've had to work,” deGrom said. "I knew from inning one it was going to be a battle. I knew then I didn't have my best stuff. And that's a good lineup over there. It's not fun when you don't have your best stuff against them.

"The fastball was the toughest pitch I had locating, which is not normal for me. I had pretty good control of my curveball, so I went to that quite a bit. I was trying to get first-pitch strikes with that. With two strikes I was using it a lot, too."

DeGrom gave up four straight one-out singles in the first inning as Los Angeles grabbed a 2-1 lead. He even thought Terry Collins was going to pull him in the third inning during a mound visit.

"I honestly didn't know," deGrom said. "I knew I was struggling. He came out there and said, 'Hey, let's go one pitch at a time. They're not going to score anymore.' He had confidence in me. I'm thankful I got to stay in that game."

After allowing those consecutive singles in the first inning, deGrom held the Dodgers to 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position the remainder of his outing.