The Texas Rangers scored eight runs while the Baltimore Orioles scored five runs.
Jacob deGrom’s few days delay to his 2026 season was going well despite his former New York Mets teammate Pete Alonso seemingly having his number. For his first four innings, deGrom looked like his vintage self aside from a couple of hits from the Polar Bear, including a solo home run.
Advertisement
Staked to a 3-1 lead in the middle innings, deGrom ran into unexpected issues with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. With the ability to qualify for a victory appearing an afterthought, the O’s rallied and knocked out Texas’ co-ace.
Baltimore’s No. 9 hitter reached via a single, and an infield single one batter later brought up Baltimore’s most dangerous hitter. Gunnar Henderson delivered a two-run double on a ball that left fielder Wyatt Langford seemed to misplay and that ended deGrom’s night with the game tied 3-3.
All in all, deGrom finished his evening going 4 2/3 innings allowing six hits, three runs, while striking out seven and walking none. Not the worst outing, but not one deGrom will likely recall at his Hall of Fame speech.
And luckily for the veteran legend, the Rangers bats were up to the task of having his back. With runs scored in five of the nine separate innings, Texas collected 13 hits and scored a season-best eight runs.
Advertisement
Meanwhile the bullpen was also held up their end of the bargain post-deGrom with Cole Winn, Jakob Junis, and Robert Garcia each enjoying scoreless outings before Chris Martin labored a bit to get through the ninth inning, allowing a couple of runs after Texas had pretty much turned it into a blowout.
With a pair of wins in Baltimore, the Rangers have earned themselves no worse than two series wins on the road to begin the year and will go for a sweep of the O’s tomorrow.
Player of the Game: The three hitters at the top of the order had two hits apiece with Corey Seager launching a solo home run in the ninth to cap off the scoring for Texas, Wyatt Langford smacking a triple that ignited the early scoring, and Brandon Nimmo collecting the eventual game-winning RBI single after Baltimore had come back to tie things in the middle innings.
But the guy tonight was catcher Danny Jansen to add to the cache of new acquisitions who have contributed to victories early this season. Jansen went 3-for-5 with a run scored and three RBI with those runs coming off the biggest hit of the night when Jansen turned a tight one-run game into an eventual easy win with a two-out, three run home run.
Advertisement
Consider the momentum shifted.
Up Next: The Rangers will attempt an early season sweep in tomorrow’s finale with RHP Nathan Eovaldi named Tuesday’s starter. The Orioles, meanwhile, will also go with their Opening Day starter with LHP Trevor Rogers making his second start of the year.
They’re starting the April Fools finale from Camden Yards in the ante meridiem local time with first pitch set for 11:35 am CDT and you can watch it on the Rangers Sports Network.