ARLINGTON -- With a growing sense of urgency as the postseason nears, the Rangers can hardly afford to waste any start from Jacob deGrom, however abbreviated those outings might be. What he lacks in depth, while he continues to deal with groin tightness, he is making up for in grit.
deGrom only made it five innings in Tuesday night’s 4-2 win over the Red Sox. But even in a somewhat limited capacity, he continued to dominate, striking out eight while allowing two earned runs on three hits and a walk as he improved to 11-9 on the season.
Last time out, in Seattle, deGrom was pulled after six scoreless innings. He threw an extremely light bullpen in Arizona on Sunday and declared himself ready to go for Tuesday.
“I just threw 10 fastballs, nice and easy, just to feel the slope,” deGrom said. “Might have been nine.”
On Tuesday, deGrom threw 92 pitches (53 strikes). Most importantly, he worked his way out of a fifth-inning jam that saw two runners reach base on the first two pitches of the inning, and handed the ball to the Rangers’ bullpen with the lead.
“He gave us everything he had,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “He did not feel 100 percent. You could tell. I knew earlier that he wasn't 100 percent. But the way he attacked them and went about it -- he gave us everything he had, and that's all we could ever ask for.”
deGrom said he felt fine in the first inning, when he breezed through the first three Boston batters, but after a fastball to Wilson Contreras to lead off the second, the groin soreness “was there for the rest of the game.
“But it didn't get really any worse as the game went on, so I think it'll be something we'll be able to manage and get out there in five days,” deGrom said. “If I can keep going out there ... I was just talking to Skip, if that fifth inning didn't go the way it was, I would have tried to go out there for six. So if we can keep [the injury] where it's at, I'll be able to manage and throw.”
In his previous start, the bullpen squandered the lead deGrom entrusted them with. But on Tuesday at Globe Life Field, the Rangers’ relievers were up to the task.
The combination of Chase Silseth, Tyler Alexander and Robert Garcia recorded the next seven outs before closer Jacob Latz had to clean up a dicey situation in the eighth inning. Garcia allowed a single and a walk before Latz got the final two outs of the inning, the latter on a strikeout of pinch-hitter Andruw Monasterio.
Latz returned for a scoreless ninth inning, earning his 30th save of the season -- his first as a closer.
“It’s a good milestone to hit, there’s no doubt about that,” Latz said. “Five sounded nice at the beginning, not gonna lie ... I had no expectations from a bullpen standpoint, all my self goals were all on the starting side, and so it was cool. Being put in this spot to make an impact on wins in this way is is an honor.”
Latz is 9-for-9 in save opportunities since Aug. 7, and his 13 saves of 1 1/3 or more innings leads the Majors. No Rangers reliever has recorded that many saves of four outs or more since Tom Henke in 1993.
“The hardest part is usually when you're asking him to get the one out in the eighth or two in this instance, it's usually high leverage,” Schumaker said. “It's not just like, go get an out with nobody on and two outs, right? He's usually coming in with runners in scoring position, game on the line. If he gives up a hit, the lead is lost. And he has been fantastic every time.”
As they began the final 12-game stretch of the season, which includes nine games at home, the Rangers struck early with four runs in the second inning off Sox lefty Patrick Sandoval. Elias Diaz plated two with a double, and Corey Seager drove home two more with a well-placed blooper to left field.
With the Blue Jays’ loss Tuesday, the Rangers picked up a half-game on Toronto in the AL Wild Card standings, but both of those clubs trail the Guardians by two games in the race for the final spot.