HOUSTON -- His seventh quality start in eight outings was hardly enough to make Jacob deGrom happy Saturday night, particularly after the Rangers lost 5-4 to the Astros in 11 innings.
But as the All-Star break beckons, the right-hander has put up a first half worthy of the best Texas could have expected at the start of the season.
In his 19th appearance of 2025, deGrom posted his 11th quality start. He allowed two runs on four hits and a walk in six innings, leaving him with a 2.32 ERA and 0.91 WHIP. He has more than justified being named to the American League All-Star team, though he will not pitch Tuesday in Atlanta.
“It’s everything we knew Jake could do,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said postgame. “When he signed to come here, we knew we were getting the guy who’s pitching the way he is.”
Two pitches in particular nagged at deGrom after the Rangers -- who tied the game at 3 on Kyle Higashioka’s two-out ninth-inning home run off Josh Hader -- couldn’t hold a 4-3 lead in the 11th. A first-inning fastball to Jose Altuve ended up traveling 407 feet to left-center field, and a fourth-inning changeup to Yainer Diaz went 410 feet to left.
“Those two right there I wish I could have back,” deGrom said. “The fastball down, it was below the zone, kind of just middle to Altuve, and he got to it.
“That was the first changeup [Diaz] had seen. Had thrown him sliders and fastballs, and he was able to get to that pitch. I wanted it more down. It was in. I was like, ‘Man, how did he get to that?’ Just frustrating, but that’s baseball.”
His eight strikeouts Saturday gave deGrom 113 in 112 1/3 innings, the most he’s thrown since 2019, when he logged 204 innings and won his second Cy Young Award with the Mets. His innings high in the interim, which included an assortment of injuries including Tommy John surgery: 92 in 2021.
He knows the second half brings somewhat uncharted territory for him, at least where the past five seasons are concerned.
“I try not to think about it,” deGrom said. “Prepare in between each week and [keep] an open line of communication on how I’m feeling, and I feel like I can take the ball every fifth day. So, do it as long as I can, as long as they’ll let me, and cross those other bridges when we get there.”
The right-hander said he felt better as the game went on. He was frustrated with his previous outing against the Angels, which snapped a streak of six quality starts, and noted Saturday that he had been “flying open a lot” in his delivery at Anaheim.
“I felt I made a big adjustment here,” deGrom said. “Slider got way better. Fastball even got better there in the last inning as far as shape and where I wanted to throw it. So we’ll work on that moving forward and get ready for the second half.”
The Rangers, who entered the night having scored at least seven runs in four consecutive games for the first time since 2016, struggled mightily with runners in scoring position, going 2-for-17. Only one of those hits -- when Adolis García singled automatic runner Marcus Semien home to start the 11th -- produced a run.
In the sixth, Wyatt Langford singled so sharply to left that Corey Seager had to hold up at third base.
Especially hurtful were strikeouts by Langford and Jonah Heim to end the first inning after the Rangers had Astros starter Framber Valdez on the ropes. Sam Haggerty led off by reaching on shortstop Mauricio Dubón's error, and a one-out single by Semien and plunking of García loaded the bases. Valdez threw a wild pitch to plate the game’s first run before fanning Langford and Heim.
Leadoff doubles by Haggerty in the third and Seager in the sixth also went to waste against Valdez, who allowed four hits and struck out 10.
“He’s one of the better pitchers in the game.,” Bochy said. “You’re facing a guy who’s got really good stuff, and those guys get better with men on base, and he did.”
In dropping the Rangers (47-49) 9 1/2 games back in the AL West, Houston kept them from reaching .500 for the first time since they were 36-36. Since then, they are 0-7 when a win would get them back to the break-even mark.
“We can’t break that barrier,” Bochy said. “It has been a tough mark to get to."