ARLINGTON, Texas — Jacob deGrom said the Texas Rangers know their record and have to win quite a bit from here after Saturday’s 6-3 loss in 10 innings to the Tampa Bay Rays at Globe Life Field.
deGrom went 6 innings and gave up 2 solo home runs. He said afterward there are games this season he wishes he could have back, and some of them are his.
“That’s the reality of it,” deGrom told Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. “We know what our record is. We know we gotta win quite a bit. We gotta play really good baseball to get in this. I think we can do it. It’s keeping that positive mindset. Like we said, this one stings. It was a close game, and we weren’t able to win it. We gotta show up tomorrow and go from there.”
“That’s all you can do,” deGrom added. “Obviously, I’ve said it throughout the year, there’s games we wish we could have back as a whole. There’s games I wish I could have back. But reality is we’re at where we’re at, and we have to play really good baseball to end the season to have a chance.”
Jacob deGrom’s Start Against The Tampa Bay Rays
Junior Caminero homered in the first inning. It was his 38th, the most in the American League. Richie Palacios homered in the fifth, his career-high eighth.
deGrom allowed 4 hits and 1 walk and struck out 7. He left with Texas down 2-1 after Joc Pederson’s home run in the sixth, and he did not get a decision. He came in 10-9 with a 4.00 ERA.
The first inning has been the problem all year. deGrom has allowed 10 home runs in the first inning this season, the most in the majors. His ERA in 27 first innings is 9.00. From the second inning on, it is 2.79.
Drew Rasmussen held Texas to 1 run on 3 hits over 7 innings on the other side. Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said deGrom battled him.
“It was back and forth with two really good pitchers, kind of a pitcher’s duel towards the end,” Schumaker said. “And then they added on another run. We fought back. Foscue, huge hit, huge hit. And Carter with the home run. But unfortunately, they had another home run that cost us the game.”
Jacob deGrom’s Last Three Starts
On Aug. 20 against Washington at Globe Life Field, deGrom allowed 1 hit over 6 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts and passed 2,000 for his career.
On Aug. 25 at Rate Field, he lasted 3 2/3 innings against the Chicago White Sox and gave up 6 hits, 8 runs, and 5 walks in an 11-7 loss. Six of the runs scored in the first inning.
On Aug. 31 against the Athletics, he faced the minimum through 7 innings, allowed 1 hit, and struck out 8 on 85 pitches in an 8-1 win. He said that night that the Chicago start had stayed with him.
“I’m pretty frustrated after most rough starts, but that one was really bad,” deGrom said Aug. 31. “What, five walks? I ended up giving up eight runs. That was really frustrating. Especially, it’s the time that we can’t afford to have those kind of starts. For me, that really bothered me. We needed to go out there and win games there. I had an absolute terrible start. I needed to turn the page and prepare for this one and hopefully moving forward can continue to throw the ball how I expect to.”
Through Aug. 31, deGrom was 7-2 with a 2.42 ERA at home and 3-7 with a 5.86 ERA on the road. Saturday was a home start.
He is in the fourth year of a five-year, $185 million contract that runs through 2027 with a mutual option for 2028. He is making $38 million this season.
Where The Texas Rangers Stand
Texas is 70-73, 3 games behind Houston in the American League West and 2 behind Cleveland and Toronto for the third wild card. Nineteen games remain. The Rangers had lost back-to-back home games for the first time since July 4-5 against Detroit, per Landry.
Left-hander MacKenzie Gore (8-10, 4.31 ERA) starts Sunday’s finale against Rays left-hander Ian Seymour (9-6, 4.21). First pitch is 2:35 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network. deGrom’s next turn would come Friday at the earliest.
