ARLINGTON, Texas — Jacob deGrom had a rough first start as a Texas Ranger on Opening Day. After a strong first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies, things fell apart for the right-hander, and he exited the game after only three and two-thirds innings.
He gave up five runs on six hits—all for extra bases—but struck out seven, so it was definitely a mixed bag. Luckily for deGrom, his opponent that day, Aaron Nola, also struggled, and Texas ended up winning a slugfest against the Phillies 10-7.
It was the worst Opening Day start of his career.
Things worked out differently for deGrom in his start on Wednesday against the Baltimore Orioles. This time, deGrom lasted six innings, gave up two runs on two hits, walked two, and struck out 11. It was more deGrom-like, and host Brice Paterik of the Locked On Rangers podcast discussed deGrom’s outing on the Thursday edition of his show.
Paterik called deGrom’s outing a ‘masterclass of a performance,’ that still left him (deGrom) pissed off.” deGrom opened the game with four perfect innings, lost it a little bit when Ryan Mountcastle led off the fifth inning with a double and advanced to third on a groundout. After issuing his first walk of the day to Terrin Vavra, Austin Hayes grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Mountcastle, and Vavra scored on an Adam Frazier single to tie the game at two.
deGrom settled down after that, and the Rangers pulled ahead in the home half of the six, which put deGrom in line for his first win of the season, and he got it.
Paterik joked and said he was laughing manically watching deGrom’s first four innings. He said, “This guy is on the Texas Rangers. He’s on the Texas Rangers for the next five years.” Then he added, “It’s special. It’s absolutely unparalleled.”
After the game, deGrom told reporters, “I'm pretty hard on myself, and there's room for improvement, but I’m pleased with how I threw the ball. There were some big spots where I got to make pitches, and there were a couple that I left over the plate and gave up a couple of hits there, and I need to be better than that.”
Manager Bruce Bochy said, “He was great, wasn’t he? It was great to get him a win, too. That was Jacob, just really on top of his game. They worked him pretty hard in the fifth inning, but he bounced back in the sixth. I was looking forward to seeing him back out there just like all of us, but that's him. He has good command, great stuff, and it was just a great effort by him.”
The Rangers dropped the first two games against Baltimore in their series, and they called on their ace to be the stopper on Wednesday.
deGrom said, “I've said before, but every time I take the ball, the goal is to put up zeros and give us a chance to win. It puts a little more pressure on you after dropping two games right away [against Baltimore] but you want to go out there and be the guy who stops that and gets us back in the win column. You take pride in that, and you go out there and really try to focus in and do your job.”
It’s rare for Jacob deGrom to have bad starts back-to-back, and he showed on Wednesday why the Rangers signed him to that five-year/$185M deal in the offseason. He was signed to be their ace, and proved to be one in his second start of the season.
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