WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — What does a team do when it loses its ace for the remainder of the regular season? They pass the baton off to their other ace.
Duh.
Texas Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom pitched five scoreless innings in Sunday’s 9-5 win against the Athletics to help clinch a sweep — and an eighth win in a nine-game stretch — in his first start since the Rangers lost right-handed ace Nathan Eovaldi for the remainder of the regular season due to a rotator cuff strain.
“We’ve just got to try and step up,” deGrom said. “The guys who are starting have just got to step up in their role. It’s not easy to lose him in the whole aspect of them — in the clubhouse and on the field especially.”
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Eovaldi, whose 1.73 ERA paced the rotation before a rotator cuff strain sidelined him, is an irreplicable arm. The Rangers, though, may be better equipped than most teams to withstand that blow with a two-time Cy Young award winner still on staff.
Especially one that’s rediscovered his best form. The 37-year-old navigated mechanical issues and shoulder fatigue over his five starts prior to Sunday’s win, but against the Athletics, met his own self-placed lofty expecations.
He allowed two hits, both to Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson, and just one walk before he exited after 79 pitches before the sixth inning. It was the fewest number of pitches that deGrom has thrown in a start since April 29, also vs. the Athletics, and the third-fewest he’d thrown in any game this season.
The Rangers will continue to manage deGrom’s workload as he hits thresholds that he hasn’t in more than a half decade. His 150 1/3 innings this year are the most he’s thrown since the 2019 season and more than he logged in his previous three campaigns combined.
“The goal is to make it to the postseason,” deGrom said. “What innings are going to be comfortable? I think it’s just a workload thing. I felt good, I felt like I could’ve kept going, but if I get in (to the sixth), how many am I going to throw there? We’re trying to tiptoe that line while we have to win now.”
Texas starters have combined for a league-best 1.60 ERA in 50 2/3 innings since Aug. 22. The trio of right-handers Jack Leiter, Merrill Kelly and deGrom allowed just five runs in the three-game sweep of the Athletics.
“We have to pitch well,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said, “and we’ve got the guys that are capable of doing it. Sure, you lose someone like Nate, c’mon, that is a blow. It’s all about trying to hunker down and this staff has done a great job of that.”
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