The Texas Rangers are banking on Jacob deGrom to return to his early- and mid-season form when he takes the ball against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night in the middle game of a three-game interleague set in Arlington, Texas.
Philadelphia will send left hander Jesus Luzardo (10-5, 4.32 ERA) to the mound to oppose the Rangers’ struggling ace right-hander.
The Phillies won the series opener 9-1 on Friday as Trea Turner had a home run and five RBI, Brandon Marsh and Kyle Schwarber homered, and Cristopher Sanchez pitched six strong innings, scattering six hits and striking out six.
Philadelphia has won four of its past five games while the Rangers have dropped two straight.
deGrom (10-4, 2.80 ERA) has lost his past two starts while giving up 10 runs in 10 1/3 innings against the Angels (a 6-4 loss) and Seattle (5-4 defeat), both on the road. In his most recent appearance, he was knocked around by the Mariners on Sunday for five runs on four hits (three of them home runs) and three walks — his most since handing out four on April 11.
A silver lining in the loss to Seattle came in the second inning when deGrom recorded his 1,800th career strikeout, becoming the fastest pitcher to that mark in MLB history by both games (240) and innings (1,493 1/3).
“That doesn’t matter — we needed to win,” deGrom said. “I came out and threw the ball terribly. It’s on me. We lost because I did a terrible job once again. So we’ve gotta figure it out. If I knew [the issue], I’d fix it — I’m pretty angry with that. I’ve gotta make quality pitches. I can’t walk guys with two outs, and I gotta stop throwing the ball down the middle.”
deGrom has won just once in his past five appearances and has seen his ERA climb from 2.13 on July 1 to its current 2.80.
“I’ll say that it was a tough day for Jacob,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said about deGrom’s struggles in the loss to the Mariners. “He was off with this command; that was evident. There’s no use dwelling on it.”
deGrom is up to 128 2/3 innings this season in 22 starts. Both figures are the most for him since 2019 with the Mets, which was the last time he pitched a full year, and more than his past three seasons combined, all of which have been shortened by injuries.
deGrom has faced the Phillies 21 times in his career and has a 9-1 record with a 2.47 ERA over 123 2/3 innings.
Luzardo has won his past two starts and is 3-0 over his past five appearances while allowing 13 runs over 29 2/3 innings over that stretch. He surrendered three runs on five hits and no walks over six innings in his most recent start, a game the Phillies won 13-3 on Monday against Baltimore. He struck out seven and allowed two home runs.
“You have to find a way to keep the team in the game,” Luzardo said. “I thought me and (Phillies catcher) J.T. (Realmuto) did a good job of that. I was grateful we could make the adjustments and kind of change the game plan. Anytime you can get a quality start and a win, that’s a great night.”
Luzardo is 0-2 with a 3.43 ERA in five career appearances covering 21 innings against the Rangers. He has not faced Texas since the 2023 season, when he pitched for Miami. He threw 5 1/3 innings in that game, allowing six hits and striking out eight in a 6-2 loss to the Rangers.
–Field Level Media
