ARLINGTON -- There were 551 dogs at Globe Life Field on Thursday for Bark at the Park Night.
That means 551 dogs at Globe Life Field watched Jacob deGrom mow down 10 Pirates hitters with their own two eyes as the Rangers beat Pittsburgh, 6-1, behind deGrom bringing his ace stuff.
The veteran right-hander had one blemish thanks to yet another monster homer from Oneil Cruz in the fifth, but he took care of business otherwise, allowing just the one run on five hits in 5 2/3 innings to lower his ERA to 2.13 on the season, good for 10th in the American League among qualified starters.
“I thought that was the best he's thrown all year,” said manager Skip Schumaker. “He was 98 miles an hour pretty consistently, dotting almost every fastball, 70-plus percent strikes. He threw a lot of first-pitch strikes, the slider was working off the fastball. It was exactly what we were hoping for. It was a really, really strong outing.”
deGrom’s day ended with 89 pitches and two outs in the sixth after he walked Spencer Horwitz. Rookie Gavin Collyer got the final out, despite making a bit of a mess with a walk and a hit batter in the process.
“Really tough,” said Pirates manager Don Kelly. “It looked like vintage deGrom. He’s been throwing the ball well. When he’s healthy, he is so hard to hit. Fastball was electric and the changeup, I thought, was really elite tonight.”
More than half of the 17 outs deGrom recorded came via the punchout, and it was his first double-digit-strikeout game of the season. His 10 strikeouts were his most since May 10, 2025, and the most by a Texas pitcher since Jack Leiter did so on Sept. 26, 2025.
After battling himself for much of his last start in Seattle, deGrom got in the lab with pitching coach Jordan Tiegs to tweak a few mechanical issues that were hindering his fastball command.
Thursday also marked deGrom’s 62nd career game with 10 or more strikeouts, tying him with the Yankees' Gerrit Cole for fourth among active pitchers with outings of 10 or more strikeouts.
Also on the list: Max Scherzer (114), Chris Sale (91), Justin Verlander (73).
“I felt a lot better, definitely a better fastball command,” deGrom said. “My changeup was good, my slider was finally where I wanted it. … I wish I would have gotten through the sixth there. Looking at the pitch count, I was like, ‘Oh, I've got a chance to hopefully go seven tonight.’ But the walk at the end wasn't ideal. I was trying to go right at them, hopefully get some early outs. That was the game plan. [Catcher] Danny [Jansen] did a great job, we had a good mix tonight, except for one pitch. I left one out that Cruz hit. But other than that, I felt like I was able to locate everything where I wanted it to be.”