ANAHEIM -- A night that was supposed to be about history for Rangers righty Jacob deGrom quickly became a very different story -- one that the veteran is unfortunately all too familiar with.
The 38-year-old exited Thursday’s 7-0 loss to the Angels after two innings with right triceps fatigue. deGrom, who entered the night five strikeouts away from 2,000 for his career, had given up two runs on six hits with one walk and three punchouts. He threw 53 total pitches, 35 for strikes.
deGrom said he felt his triceps tighten in the second inning.
“I’m not too concerned,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll make my next [start], we’ll see. Tonight, it just -- there in the second it was tight and just didn’t want to loosen up. I haven’t really had that before.”
deGrom said he felt that he could have pitched through the discomfort, but the team decided to play it safe.
“Just see how it is tomorrow and then come up with a plan,” deGrom said. “We’ve been doing a lot to treat that area. That’s what I normally do in my routine. But this last, whatever, week, I guess, it just didn’t recover, and then I felt it tonight there in the second. They made the decision that it was not best to go forward.”
The five hits deGrom surrendered in the second inning were his most in a single inning since he gave up six hits in the fourth against the Phillies on Sept. 5, 2017, as a member of the Mets. He threw 32 pitches in the second on Thursday, tied for second most in any inning this season -- his most were 34 in the first inning on May 22, also in Anaheim.
Manager Skip Schumaker said he “wasn’t going to risk it” once the training staff determined that it was triceps fatigue. deGrom is likely to undergo imaging on Friday.
deGrom’s early exit comes just three days after the Rangers placed fellow veteran right-hander Nathan Eovaldi on the 15-day injured list with right posterior elbow inflammation. Texas is also without Jack Leiter, who has been sidelined since late June due to ankle surgery. Leiter, who is eligible to come off the 60-day IL on Aug. 18, made his first Triple-A rehab start on Thursday.
While the Rangers’ pitching depth is certainly being tested, they did recently welcome the return of both Jordan Montgomery -- who provided two innings on Thursday -- and Cody Bradford, who was solid in seven innings on Tuesday. Cal Quantrill, who started Wednesday in place of Eovaldi, is also a reliable rotation option. If deGrom has to miss time, Montgomery would be a likely candidate to slot into his spot in the rotation, pending Leiter’s rehab timeline.
“The starting pitching has taken a hit. That is reality with our two guys going down,” Schumaker said. “We’ll see what it looks like, obviously. Jack Leiter threw today, so that’s good news. But it’s never easy when your No. 1 and No. 2 guys are down, but they're here [with the team]. Evo’s here. And they can still be a voice and still lead in different ways.”
With Thursday’s loss, the Rangers (60-62) dropped to two games back of the Astros in the AL West and lost their AL Wild Card spot. Texas now trails the Tigers by a half-game for the final slot.
“We’ve got to figure it out,” Schumaker said. “It starts with me. I’ve got to start doing something different on the road. In-division especially, we have just not been good. We’ve got to switch it up somehow, and I’ve got to think of new ideas for that to happen. Because that series right there just can’t happen. Especially where we’re at in the season. We’ve got to fight back, and it starts tomorrow.”
The Angels have long given deGrom trouble -- he entered Thursday 1-3 with a 4.98 ERA in seven career starts versus the Halos. His ERA at Angel Stadium was 7.79 through four starts before this outing.
If there’s a silver lining, deGrom’s velocity was far from a concern, as is so often the case with arm injuries. He maxed out at 99 mph while throwing all five of his pitches at a higher clip than his season average, per Statcast. He generated 10 whiffs.
deGrom has been nursing a hip/glute injury that forced him to skip his final start of the first half. He has not gone on the injured list since missing almost all of 2023 and ‘24 after undergoing right elbow surgery. He has previously dealt with elbow, shoulder and forearm injuries.