Rangers 15, A’s 2
Rangers 15, A’s 2
- For one night, everything was good again.
- Jacob deGrom pitched like Jacob deGrom. The offense scored a ton of runs. The key late inning bullpen arms got a much needed night off.
- For one night, it felt like 2023 again.
- Jacob deGrom has been good this season, but not “Jacob deGrom” good. In particular, his fastball has not been particularly effective, as it wasn’t missing bats at near the rate it has historically. Lefties in particular were teeing off on it — all five home runs deGrom had allowed in 2025 came off of his fastball and by a lefthanded hitter.
- There was much improvement on that front on Tuesday, as deGrom threw 34 fastballs, generating 23 swings and 8 whiffs off of his heater. A 35% whiff rate on your fastball will play.
- deGrom needed only 65 pitches to go six innings, and could have gone deeper had the Rangers not had a huge lead and been in a position to allow deGrom a shorter night, and while watching deGrom dominate another inning or two, and maybe even log a CGSO, workload management for deGrom takes priority.
- Out of those 65 pitches, deGrom generated 16 whiffs on 38 swings, which is S-tier bat missing.
- This was also Jacob deGrom’s first win since 2023, and yes, pitcher wins is a dumb stat, but it still had to feel good for him to check that box in his return from Tommy Johns urgery.
- deGrom’s early (in a good way! for a good reason!) exit combined with a big lead meant we got to also experience the Return of Dane Dunning. That included the Return of First Inning Dane Dunning, as the first two batters he faced resulted in a walk and a home run (by Shea Langeliers, natch), but things settled down for Dunning after that.
- Dunning got a Wes Littleton Save, as he went the final three innings of the game. It was Dunning’s first save of his career, and the first three inning save for the Rangers since Jose Urena close out a 4-0 win on June 23 last year.
- This game was also the largest margin in a Rangers victory where a Ranger pitcher recorded a save since the immortal Eddie Butler got the save in an 18-4 win against the Twins on September 2, 2018. Butler also got a three save exactly one month earlier, on August 2, 2018, in a 17-8 win over Baltimore.
- But the pitching, as good as it was, isn’t the story from this win. No, the story from this win is that the Rangers bats, finally, did what we’ve been wanting them to do, broke out, had a huge game, put up crooked numbers and, for the first time this season, a double digit run total.
- We heard Monday about how Donnie Ecker had met with the hitters and emphasized the need for better at bats, for not chasing, for working better at bats. Before Tuesday’s game, Evan Grant posted an article about how Chris Young was running out of patience with an offense that was last in the majors in runs per game, which included a quote from Young saying, “It’s one of our major issues . . . [s]wing decisions. Chase rates. Lack of walks. There is no doubt we‘re not putting enough pressure on opposing pitchers and not creating opportunities to score.”
- For one night, anyway, that issue was addressed. Wyatt Langford and Josh Smith each walked to start the game. Marcus Semien also drew a walk in the first inning. The Rangers left the bases loaded, but it was a promising sign.
- Texas got on the board in the second. It looked initially like overaggressiveness had cost the Rangers — after Adolis Garcia drew a walk and Jake Burger reached on a HBP, Leody Taveras attempted a sacrifice bunt that turned into a bunt single, loading the bases. Unfortunately, Adolis decided to try to score on the play, and got thrown out at home for the first out by a comfortable margin. It was the type of play you see from a team struggling to score runs, a team where players are trying to make something happen, trying to do too much.
- A Josh Smith single ended up bringing Burger home, at least, and the Rangers were up 1-0, and you know, with Jacob deGrom on the mound, you felt good about things. Little did we know how good we were about to feel.
- Third inning, leadoff singles by Jonah Heim and Marcus Semien were followed up with strikeouts by Josh Jung and Adolis Garcia, with Adolis going down swinging on the 10th pitch of the at bat. I admit, I was nervous, worried that they were going to fail to take advantage once again, especially with Jake Burger and Leody Taveras, two of the prime culprits for the Rangers’ poor offensive start, up next.
- Miracle of miracles, Burger singled home a run. And then Leody hit a line drive single up the middle to bring home a run. It was 3-0 early. Things were looking good.
- Another run scored in the fourth on a walk and a pair of singles off of someone named Hogan Harris, which I don’t believe is a real person. Texas had four runs in a game for the first time in a week.
- Finally, the dam burst for real in the sixth inning. Texas scored eight runs on four singles, three walks, and a pair of doubles. Poor Kyle Higashioka was responsible for all three outs in the inning, as he flew out on a 3-2 pitch for the first out of the inning, then hit into a 4-6-3 DP to end the inning.
- Higashioka got his redemption in the eighth inning, though, with a two out, bases loaded double that cleared the bases and gave the Rangers their final 15-2 margin of victory.
- The offense had a game where they did exactly the things that Young said had to be addressed. They worked the count. They did a better job of not chasing. They drew 9 walks, the most of the season by a fair amount, and had 18 hits. After struggling to hit with runners in scoring position of late, Texas went 10 for 18 in those situations in this game.
- One big game early in the season can make a big difference to the overall numbers. The team’s run differential is now a much more respectable (if not sterling) -3. The offense has gone from last in the majors in runs per game to tied for 25th. The team OPS+ is a still not good but not quite as terrible 94 on the year, 21st in the majors.
- It is, of course, just one game. The Rangers put up an 8 spot in Oakland a week ago, and we thought it was a sign of things to come, and instead Texas put up 12 runs over their next six games. Even bad offensive teams have big games.
- But this should not be a bad offensive team. It should be a good offensive team. And Tuesday night showed what this team is capable of.
- Jacob deGrom reached 99.6 mph with his fastball, averaging 97.4 mph. Dane Dunning topped out at 90.7 mph with his sinker.
- Leody Taveras had a 108.7 mph single. Jake Burger had a 104.7 mph double. Josh Jung had a 103.7 mph single. Adolis Garcia had a 102.5 mph double. Marcus Semien had a 101.1 mph single.
- Now for the big test…can these improvements continue? We shall stay tuned…