ARLINGTON, Texas — Jacob deGrom reached 2,000 career strikeouts on Thursday night, and the Texas Rangers beat the Washington Nationals 2-0 to move back into a tie for the final American League wild card spot.
Texas is 63-65 with 34 games left.
Showing up the same way every day is what deGrom said the Rangers have done through a season that has left them on the playoff bubble into late August.
“It’s a great group,” deGrom said. “We got Skip leading us, and he’s done a tremendous job this year. And our group in there is awesome, everybody’s rooting for each other and we’re all pulling for each other, and we need to go out there and win and have a chance to get in playoffs and see what we can do.”
Skip Schumaker is in his first season managing Texas. Bruce Bochy managed the Rangers in 2025.
The Texas Rangers And The Wild Card Race
The Rangers had dropped out of the wild card spot on Wednesday in a 6-0 loss to Washington. They took the series by winning the opener 5-0 on Tuesday and the finale on Thursday.
Washington was shut out for the fifth time this season and for the second time in the three-game series.
Texas has been setting its rotation a day at a time since Nathan Eovaldi landed on the 15-day injured list with right posterior elbow inflammation, retroactive to Aug. 9. Cal Quantrill moved into that spot and threw 7 scoreless innings on Tuesday.
What’s Next For The Texas Rangers
deGrom went 6 innings and allowed 1 hit, 0 runs, and 1 walk with 10 strikeouts. He is 9-8 this season.
The Rangers host the Los Angeles Angels for three games from Friday through Sunday, then open a three-game series at the Chicago White Sox on Monday. First pitch Friday is 7:15 p.m. CT at Globe Life Field on Rangers Sports Network.
