Texas Rangers Ace Enhances Cy Young Hopes with New Franchise Record

WASHINGTON — Saturday was another incredible performance from Texas Rangers ace Jacob deGrom.

He shut out the Washington Nationals on Saturday, 5-0. It wasn’t just that he shut them out. He dominated them. The 36-year-old right-hander gave up two hits and no walks while he struck out eight.

He did it against a young, talented lineup filled with left-handed hitters. The Nationals’ batting order was geared to play the matchup game. All but one hitter had the ability to hit from the left side of the plate.

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The Nats failed. Only two hitters got to him, and one was an old friend — Nats first baseman and former Rangers star Nathaniel Lowe. That came in the second inning.

“After he got the hit on the fastball I was like, ‘All right, well, here we go,” deGrom said with a grin. “Let’s see what you got now.”

Lowe struck out the next two at-bats.

By the time deGrom yielded to the bullpen, he had wrapped up his 10th straight start with at least five innings pitched and allowing two runs or fewer. Per Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News, that’s a new franchise record.

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The streak began on April 18 after his start in Seattle on April 11. Against the Mariners he allowed three hits and three runs, along with two home runs, in four innings.

Since then? deGrom has given up 10 runs.

“I love watching him,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “What he can do, the stuff, the command of his pitches, the pitchability. It’s just a rare deal, and that’s why his numbers are what they are for his career.”

In 13 starts he is 6-2 with a 2.12 ERA. He’s thrown 76.1 innings, even as the Rangers have attempted to manage his workload with extra days off and arranging his space in the rotation around off days as much as possible. He’s struck out 74 and walked 17 and batters are hitting .194 against him.

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There’s a chance he could reach 100 career wins this season. Without the injuries that prevented him from playing, including his Tommy John surgery in 2023, he’d likely be well past that mark by now.

deGrom feels like he’s in a groove now. He’s technical but also pitches by feel. After his last start against St. Louis, he came out of it feeling like he found something to build on Saturday.

It’s clear whatever he figured out, it worked.

“It’s more of a feel thing, because when you look at the tape, you can’t really see it,” deGrom said. “So, it was more a feeling in that last start and then trying to bring it into today.”

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