ARLINGTON, Texas — MacKenzie Gore starts Wednesday night for the Texas Rangers against the Boston Red Sox, who have rookie left-hander Jake Bennett scheduled. First pitch at Globe Life Field is 7:05 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network.
Gore’s 31 starts are the most in the majors. In his first season with Texas, he is 8-11 with a 4.62 ERA and has struck out 172 batters over 161 2/3 innings. He was an All-Star with the Washington Nationals in 2025.
Saturday, Texas activated Nathan Eovaldi from the injured list and moved him to the bullpen. That left Gore, Jacob deGrom, Kumar Rocker, and Cal Quantrill as the Rangers’ starters.
MacKenzie Gore’s Last Start In Phoenix
Gore last pitched Friday at Chase Field. The Arizona Diamondbacks scored 4 runs on 4 doubles against him in the fifth inning, and he was charged with 4 runs on 5 hits in 4-plus innings. He walked 3 and struck out 2. Arizona won 9-1, and Texas went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
One night earlier, the Rangers lost 4-3 in Seattle after leading 3-0. Rangers manager Skip Schumaker put the two losses together after Friday’s game.
“You’ve got to flush it quickly and try to go about it in a different way tomorrow,” Schumaker said. “Brutal couple of days. There’s no sugarcoating it. But we have a chance to flush it tonight and to win tomorrow.”
Texas won the next two games, 6-2 on Saturday and 7-6 on Sunday.
On Aug. 26 at Rate Field, the Chicago White Sox scored 4 runs on 8 hits against Gore in 3 2/3 innings. He walked 4 in the 10-4 loss. Before that start, Texas had won nine straight games Gore started. He was 2-1 with a 3.32 ERA over his previous eight outings dating to July 12.
deGrom had allowed 8 runs in Chicago the night before, tying a career high, and neither starter finished four innings.
“It starts with starting pitching,” Schumaker explained that night. “I’ve said since day one that the health and production of our starting pitching was going to carry us. We acquired Gore and we knew we had deGrom and [Eovaldi]. We felt pretty good about it. These last two starts were not what they wanted; not what we were thinking was going to happen after winning the first game here.”
“That’s not what we thought we’re going to get,” Schumaker continued. “I don’t think they would tell you [they expected] that either.”
Jake Bennett’s Rookie Season With The Red Sox
Bennett, 25, is 9-7 with a 3.69 ERA. The 6-foot-6 left-hander was a second-round pick of the Nationals in 2022 out of the University of Oklahoma. Boston acquired him from Washington in the offseason. Gore pitched for the Nationals from 2023 to 2025.
Last Wednesday against the Los Angeles Angels at Fenway Park, Bennett allowed 6 runs on 9 hits over 5 1/3 innings in a 6-4 loss.
Boston is 82-68 and third in the American League East. The Red Sox hold an American League wild-card spot with 12 games left. Texas is 74-76 and one game behind the Houston Astros in the American League West, and Houston holds the tiebreaker.
In Tuesday’s opener, deGrom faces Boston left-hander Patrick Sandoval. Right-hander Sonny Gray starts Thursday’s finale for the Red Sox, and Texas has not announced its starter for that game.
