NEW YORK -- When you go into the bottom of the first inning already with a three-run lead and your ace about to take the mound, you typically like your chances to come through with a victory.
Skip Schumaker wasn’t that naive. No matter how good Jacob deGrom is, the Rangers’ manager knew that three runs might not be enough to beat the Yankees, who boast the highest-scoring offense in the American League.
Schumaker was right.
After the three-spot in the first Tuesday night, the Rangers’ offense went cold while the Yankees hit mistake after mistake out of the hand of deGrom. Texas ultimately fell, 7-4, to New York to open the three-game set at Yankee Stadium in a matchup that got away from it slowly before the end of the night.
“Good teams like the Yankees, they punish the mistakes, and they did that tonight,” Schumaker said. “We didn't capitalize on their mistakes. We had tons of guys on base, and again, just couldn't get that big hit to add on.
"I think when you let good teams stick around -- which happened tonight -- they come back and put up another crooked number against us. It was just kind of a tough game overall.”
The six runs and two homers deGrom allowed were both season highs, though it was the first time he recorded an out in the seventh inning. The six runs were the most in his Rangers tenure, which began in 2023.
“I mean, that's on me,” deGrom said. “We go out and put up three runs in the first. Then I give up one in the first and then two in the second to let them tie the game.
“I just wasn't able to put up zeros and give us a chance to win. I gave up the lead with the home run in the sixth, and then in the seventh, I come out of the game with two runners on. I have to do a better job. That's on me.”
Despite what he might think, the loss didn’t fall all on deGrom. The Rangers’ offensive struggles with runners in scoring position persisted. The group went 3-for-13 in that situation while stranding 12.
Texas opened the game with the bases loaded and no outs. All three of those runners scored. The Rangers didn’t score again until the ninth inning, when Ezequiel Duran hit a one-out triple and scored on a Jake Burger groundout.
“The good teams are hitting mistakes,” Schumaker said. “We're just not doing it right now. We're going to, I really feel that we're going to. But we haven't done it in a few weeks. …
“We're getting mistake pitches. We're not doing anything with them. We're chasing their pitch. That’s a bad recipe right now. Tonight, they hit our mistakes, and that ultimately won them the game.”
The Rangers had the bases loaded three times in the loss, and only once -- in the first inning -- did any runs come out of it.
At the conclusion of the game, Texas had a .697 OPS with runners in scoring position (tied for 21st in MLB) and a .364 OPS with the bases loaded (30th in MLB), a nearly unfathomable number for a team that seems to be in those situations multiple times a game.
“It's a mindset,” Schumaker said. “When you're in the moment, I think it's just slowing the game down and believing you can do it. You have to move the ball forward when you get your pitch. I think we're just going outside of our strike zone and getting their pitch. That's why we're getting the results that we are.”