ARLINGTON, Texas — Two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom struck out five over three innings Friday night in his first home start for the Texas Rangers in nearly 17 months after his recovery from elbow surgery.
The only run deGrom allowed was when Seattle’s No. 9 batter, Josh Rojas, led off the third with a homer.
A week after throwing 3⅔ scoreless innings in his season debut on the road, also against the Mariners, deGrom threw 37 of 58 pitches for strikes and had one walk. Rangers manager Bruce Bochy had said the 36-year-old right-hander would throw about 60 pitches.
“Definitely felt better than my first one. I think maybe a little bit less nerves, worked on some things in between,” said deGrom, who will get one more start this season. “It’s little things that I’ve got to continue to work on, but my arm felt good and that was the most important thing.”
Rookie right-hander Jack Leiter replaced deGrom to start the fourth with the Rangers down 1-0.
Texas went ahead on Nathaniel Lowe‘s two-run single in the fourth inning off George Kirby. That broke the Rangers’ 34-inning scoreless drought against the Mariners right-hander over a span of eight starts since September 2022.
The Rangers went on to lose 8-2.
It was the first start at home for deGrom since he left in the middle of the fourth inning against the New York Yankees on April 28, 2023. That was the sixth and last start in the first season of his $185 million, five-year contract.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.