The Texas Rangers scored a run while the Houston Astros did not score a run.
In a bit of a quirk of the schedule, the Rangers and Astros are opening up the Silver Boot series a quarter of the way through the season. The build up didn’t disappoint as Texas and Houston played this one like it was in the middle of October.
The Rangers entered the night one percentage point behind the Astros for second place in the American League West. On the bump was Jacob deGrom against Hunter Brown. You pretty much couldn’t have scripted a better starting point for tonight’s contest and it played out as nail-biting as you might have expected.
deGrom, who has a case for having the greatest stuff by a pitcher in the history of humans throwing things during his prime, was going up against Brown, the new kid on the block aiming for the title of baseball’s best pitcher.
By the end of the night, the two hurlers were embroiled in a good ol’ fashion pitchers’ duel with deGrom tossing eight scoreless and Brown striking out nine batters in his eight innings of work with just three hits allowed.
Two of those hits came off the bat of Jake Burger, who returned from a reset in Triple-A during this homestand, and one of those landed in the Texas bullpen for the game’s only run.
In just a few ticks over two hours, the Rangers’ season-best sixth win in a row was in the books. They don’t make baseball games like this one anymore.
Player of the Game: With a major assist from Burger to get to Brown, deGrom isn’t quite ready to pass the baton. Eight scoreless innings, five hits, a walk, and seven strikeouts for the two-time Cy Young winner.
Texas signed deGrom for nights like tonight and he delivered a masterpiece.
Up Next: More Rangers and Astros with RHP Nathan Eovaldi next up for Texas opposite RHP Lance McCullers Jr. for Houston.
The Friday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.