The Texas Rangers will look to ace right-hander Jacob deGrom to get them back on track when they host the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.
deGrom (8-2, 2.08 ERA), a two-time Cy Young Award winner, is enjoying a resurgent 2025 campaign.
Baltimore will send right hander Brandon Young (0-2, 7.11) to the mound to start the second contest of the three-game series.
The Orioles recorded their third win in four outings in the series opener on Monday, posting a 10-6 victory in 11 innings.
Texas played its fourth straight extra-inning game in the loss, tying a record set Sept. 16-19, 2002, over four contests in Seattle. They went 1-3 in the recent extra-inning span.
Young and deGrom pitched against each other on Wednesday in a game the Rangers won 7-0 in Baltimore.
deGrom was in excellent form in that win, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning and no-hitter into the eighth before allowing a leadoff single. He ended up going seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out seven and ending the game with the third-lowest ERA in MLB.
“It was just fun to be out there,” deGrom said after that win.
He went 4-0 with an ERA of 1.41 in five starts in the month of June, allowing a total of five runs and 17 hits with 32 strikeouts over 32 innings of work. He has produced 13 consecutive starts of at least five innings and two or fewer runs allowed, the longest such streak in team history.
“Just try not to get too far ahead of myself,” deGrom said. “I take it one day at a time. And when I’m out there, I try to take it one pitch at a time and try to hit my spot. And if I miss, go back to that mentality and just try to make the next pitch.”
deGrom has won all four of his career starts against Baltimore, forging an 0.98 ERA. In 27 2/3 innings of work, he’s allowed four runs (three earned) on 14 hits and six walks while striking out 33 batters.
The Rangers announced right hander Tyler Mahle has been shut down until at least August with a rotator cuff strain. Mahle was placed the 15-day injury list on June 15 with what the team called “shoulder fatigue.” His most recent imaging showed a small rotator cuff strain in the right shoulder.
The Orioles also are dealing with injury issues in their rotation, with Young earning another MLB start as a result.
Young was sent back to Triple-A Norfolk after that Wednesday loss but was recalled on Monday to take the rotation spot of Zach Eflin, who was placed on the 15-day injured list retroactive to June 29 with lower back discomfort.
Eflin threw only 28 pitches while allowing four runs in one inning in an 11-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.
“I knew something wasn’t right,” Eflin said Sunday. “I wasn’t comfortable. It kind of gets to a point where once you stop moving around, it just locks up and tightens up and then you can’t really do much about it at that point.”
Young allowed four runs on five hits over four innings on Wednesday while walking one and striking out two. That appearance was his first start against the Rangers and only his third game in the majors.
–Field Level Media
