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Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom throws to the Boston Red Sox during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n
Julio Cortez\/AP Photo\/Julio Cortez<\/p>\n
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom throws to the Boston Red Sox during the fourth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n
Julio Cortez\/AP Photo\/Julio Cortez<\/p>\n
Texas Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom talks to home plate umpire Tripp Gibson during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n
Julio Cortez\/AP Photo\/Julio Cortez<\/p>\n
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom throws to the Boston Red Sox during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n
Julio Cortez\/AP Photo\/Julio Cortez<\/p>\n
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) \u2014 Jacob deGrom told the Texas Rangers before the trade deadline that he wanted to stay and believed the team could make the playoffs.<\/p>\n
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The two-time Cy Young Award winner is doing his part down the stretch, even while pitching through mild groin tightness.<\/p>\n
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DeGrom struck out eight in five innings Tuesday night as the Rangers opened a series of playoff contenders with a 4-2 win over Boston to stay within a game of AL West-leading Houston with 11 games left. Texas (75-76) remained 1 1\/2 games behind Cleveland for the third and final wild card.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s what you play this game for. You play to win and go to playoffs, and hopefully win a World Series,\u201d deGrom said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we talked about in the spring and set goals. And we\u2019re right here in a playoff race.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old right-hander (11-9) took his regular turn in the rotation five days after 12 strikeouts and no walks in six scoreless innings of one-hit ball at Seattle \u2014 a game Texas lost. That was also when he felt his groin tighten while covering first base on a grounder.<\/p>\n
During his bullpen session between starts, deGrom said he threw only 10 fastballs, then added it might have been only nine.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIf it was April, May, that type of deal, I\u2019m not sure I would push it,\u201d manager Skip Schumaker said. \u201cHe\u2019s like, I\u2019m ready, give me the ball and I\u2019ll give you everything I have, and he\u2019s doing that. I know he doesn\u2019t feel 100%. He\u2019s not even going to tell me that it\u2019s probably worse than he\u2019s even telling me.\u201d<\/p>\n
On his last pitch against the Red Sox, with the bases loaded in the fifth, deGrom got Adley Rutschman on an inning-ending groundout. Boston had two runners after the first two pitches of the inning, on a hit batter and catcher’s interference, before a sacrifice bunt and then a two-out walk.<\/p>\n
DeGrom retired the first seven batters he faced before Caleb Durbin’s solid single in the third. No. 9 batter Nick Sogard followed with a liner over the wall in right field for a homer that got the Red Sox within 4-2, on a pitch deGrom felt went where he wanted it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, all right, that\u2019s all they get,\u201d said deGrom, whose groin again tightened on him throwing a fastball in the second inning but didn’t get any worse.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think it\u2019ll be something we\u2019ll be able to manage and get out there in five days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hours after the trade deadline on Aug. 3, the Rangers dropped a series opener at home to San Francisco. It was their season-high sixth loss in a row. They had just been swept in a three-game series at Houston, going from a half-game division lead to 2 1\/2 games behind the Astros.<\/p>\n
The Rangers then won four in a row, a streak capped by deGrom’s nine strikeouts in five innings against Baltimore in his first start after the deadline, when at least one contending team had inquired about the availability of the pitcher with a full no-trade clause.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just setting an example to the entire team, just about how he\u2019s going about it right now. Showing up, maybe not feeling 100%, but he\u2019s going to give you his best effort every single time and doing it how he is doing it,\u201d first baseman Jake Burger said. \u201cIt\u2019s impressive, and I think that signals to the whole entire team.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Texas hasn\u2019t reached the playoffs since winning its only World Series title in 2023, which was deGrom\u2019s first season after signing a $185 million, five-year contract in free agency \u2014 a deal that has a conditional option for 2028. The Rangers won all six of his starts by the end of that April before elbow surgery that kept him out until the final three games of the 2024 season.<\/p>\n