ANAHEIM, Calif. — Skip Schumaker heard that Jacob deGrom was feeling discomfort Thursday night and made the call. The Texas Rangers did not send deGrom back out for the third inning of their 7-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels after the right-hander reported tightness in his right triceps.
“I wasn’t going to risk it once I heard [it was] the triceps,” Schumaker said. “Obviously, you don’t want to hear anything arm-related. You pull a guy out in the second inning, it’s concerning. But we’ll figure it out when he gets some imaging. We won’t know until they get in there.”
deGrom is scheduled to undergo an MRI Friday.
Skip Schumaker Makes Call After Jacob deGrom’s Second Inning
deGrom gave up 2 runs on 6 hits, walked 1 and struck out 3 in his two innings.
Five of the Angels’ hits came in the second. Denzer Guzmán singled, Josh Lowe doubled and Adam Frazier drove in the first run with a single. Wade Meckler and Mike Trout added singles later in the inning, with Trout bringing home another run.
deGrom needed 32 pitches to get through the frame.
The velocity did not disappear. He touched 99 mph and generated 10 whiffs, while Statcast had all five of his pitches coming in above their season-average velocity.
The concern was how the triceps felt.
deGrom said the area tightened during the second and never loosened. He thought he could keep pitching, but the Rangers ended his night.
“I’m not too concerned,” deGrom said. “Hopefully I’ll make my next [start], we’ll see. Tonight, it just — there in the second it was tight and just didn’t want to loosen up. I haven’t really had that before.”
deGrom later said the triceps had been slower to recover over the previous week. His full reaction is here.
Texas Rangers Await More On Jacob deGrom
Thursday was deGrom’s 23rd start of the season. He had made each of his first 22 without a trip to the injured list.
The loss moved him to 8-8 after he entered the night with a 3.87 ERA. His 3 strikeouts also left him 2 shy of 2,000 for his career.
Texas already has Nathan Eovaldi on the 15-day injured list with right posterior elbow inflammation. Schumaker said after the game that the Rangers’ starting pitching “has taken a hit.”
Jack Leiter made his first Triple-A rehab start Thursday after being out since late June following right ankle surgery. He can come off the 60-day injured list Aug. 18.
The Rangers used five relievers after deGrom left. Jordan Montgomery gave up 4 runs in the fifth, and the Angels finished with 15 hits.
Texas had 5 hits and no extra-base hits. The loss completed a three-game skid to end the series and left the Rangers at 60-62, a half-game behind Detroit for the final American League Wild Card spot.
deGrom put the loss on himself afterward.
“We needed to win,” deGrom said. “I take blame for tonight.”
Texas opens a three-game series against the Athletics on Friday in West Sacramento. Kumar Rocker starts the opener at 8:40 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network.
