The Rangers have already added to the bullpen<\/a> and catching depth via a Wednesday trade with the Angels, and they would like to add a right-handed-hitting outfielder.<\/p>\nIf the Rangers suddenly feel like they can\u2019t rely on Eovaldi and deGrom to stay healthy and pitch effectively, a starting pitcher might be a consideration for the front office. Manager Skip Schumaker isn\u2019t there yet. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think there are guys that we have internally that will give us a shot,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cI know it\u2019s post-All-Star break, and I know it\u2019s the trade deadline. I totally understand. It\u2019s August. There still a lot of games, though. If I hadn\u2019t seen this team make a run before, the I wouldn\u2019t think it could happen. But I\u2019ve seen it, and that was without some of our guys being fully healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
No player is fully healthy at this time of the season. All active players are dealing with some kind of ailment that requires maintenance but isn\u2019t bad enough to land on the injured list. Eovaldi and deGrom, though, are the aces of a starting rotation that was supposed to be the Rangers\u2019 strength.<\/p>\n
They have shown regression from solid 2025 seasons, and both have ERAs nearing 4.00 or above it. MacKenzie Gore, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker have struggled at times, too, and though injured pitchers, including Leiter, are expected back this month, they might not be as reliable as the Rangres would hope.<\/p>\n
The Rangers lined up Eovaldi and deGrom for the Astros series, knowing its importance on the division race and potentially how the series might shape the front office\u2019s thinking on making further additions. It might have, just not in the way they were hoping.<\/p>\n
Instead, it\u2019s not unreasonable for the Rangers to be concerned about Eovaldi\u2019s left knee and deGrom\u2019s left hip\/glute. The Rangers will have difficulty clinching the division or advancing in the postseason if their aces aren\u2019t sharp, leaving the front office to possibly add a starter or sit out the rest of the trading period.<\/p>\n
Neither deGrom nor Eovaldi used his malady as an excuse. Schumaker, pitching coach Jordan Tiegs and athletic trainer Matt Lucero visited deGrom in the third inning after his left foot twisted as he moved toward a ball in play, but he stay in the game.<\/p>\n
The problem, deGrom said, was that he couldn\u2019t throw his slider for a strike and was relegated to being a one-pitch pitcher. His fastball was clocked as fast as 101 mph, a sign that his mechanics were dialed in. He just didn\u2019t rise to the occasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t make pitches when I needed to, so it was just a bad job by me,\u201d deGrom said. \u201cI\u2019ve had to say that too many times this year. That\u2019s on me. We lost this game because I wasn\u2019t able to go out there and execute and make pitches when I needed to.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expects to make his next start, Friday against the Orioles. As was the case before the All-Star break, deGrom said that the hip\/glute issue is managable. He will continue to search for a fix to issue with executing pitches.<\/p>\n
He tossed a scoreless first inning before surrendering a run in the second. Wyatt Langford homered in the third to tie the game, but the Astros struck for two in there half of the inning. The Rangers again tied the game in the fourth on an Alejandro Osuna RBI single and a safety squeeze by Elias Diaz.<\/p>\n
But deGrom recorded only on more out and left after Christian Walker\u2019s grounder to first base was defected by a diving Joc Pederson for an infield hit. That made it 4-3, and the Astros added another on a close play at the plate after a Cole Winn wild pitch.<\/p>\n
Diaz homered in the sixth, but some missed chances earlier came back to haunt the Rangers. DeGrom is haunted by his outing, which included five walks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe needed to win today\u2019s game,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was the bottom line, and I needed to come in and put us in a position to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the Rangers are thinking about supplementing the rotation, the Rangers would likely have to part with multiple prospect and pony up on the financial end. President of baseball operations Chris Young said the Rangers are open to upgrading the team in a variety of ways.<\/p>\n
They are presumed to be out on Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal, but Detroit might also part with right-hander Casey Mize. The Angels have right-hander Jose Soriano, who was scratched from his start Saturday, and left-hander Reid Detmers. They would both come with contractual control.<\/p>\n
Mets righty Freddy Peralta is a high-end rental, something that might turn off the Rangers.<\/p>\n
The players can\u2019t control what the front office does before the trade deadline. They can control what happens on the field, and Eovaldi and deGrom need to be better.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a terrible job by me,\u201d deGrom said. \u201cHonestly, I\u2019m kind of tired fo saying that, so I better figure something out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacob deGrom lasted only 3 1\/3 innings and allowed five runs in a 5-4 loss to the Astros,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-395234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}