On Sunday afternoon, the Texas Rangers were looking to capture the series victory and take 2-3 from the Oakland (soon to be Las Vagas) A’s.
Part of why the 2023 Rangers are so good is that they can have Jacob deGrom on the mound on days when they are looking for series wins which was the case today.
Overall, deGrom was very good today, going six innings allowing just 3 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), and striking out 11. Today’s outing was Jacob deGrom’s 60th career start with 10+ SO, becoming only the 6th active player to reach that accomplishment.
Manager Bruce Bochy said, “He was really good; he was Jacob, great fastball, slider, great command today.” deGrom also emphasized that same point after the game by saying that he felt his command was really on today.
After putting up an 18 spot on the scoreboard in last night’s win, the Rangers wasted no time getting right back onto the board today; Robbie Grossman stepped up in the bottom of the second with runners on second and third and drove one into the left field seats to put Texas up 3-0.
Grossman would add his 4th RBI of the day on a sac fly in the 4th that scored Leody Tavares and put the Rangers up 4-0. This was a much-needed performance for Grossman, who was just 6-42 in his last 13 games.
After the game, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said, “He’s been swinging it well; in the game a couple of days ago, he had a couple of hits, he keeps good at-bats [and} sees good pitches. He went on to say, “He [Grossman] is just a solid at-bat out there.
Oakland would tack on two in the 5th on an absolute bomb from catcher Shea Langeliers into the second deck in left field. That was just the third hit Jacob deGrom had allowed in the game.
Brock Burke and Jonathan Hernandez teamed up to pitch the 7th and 8th innings, with Texas up by 2. The duo combined to pitch 2 scoreless innings giving up just 1 hit.
Texas led 5-2 heading into the 9th, and Will Smith would come to try and lock this one up. Smith would pitch a scoreless 9th to secure the Rangers’ 14th win of the season.
For the Rangers, it was a tremendous bounce-back series win after Friday night’s loss to the A’s.
Following this game, Texas will take on the Reds in Cincinnati for three games starting tomorrow with Nathan Eovaldi on the mound.
