SEATTLE -- If a team needs to salvage a series split, Jacob deGrom is the guy you want on the mound.
But on Sunday afternoon, nothing went as planned for deGrom and the Rangers.
The Texas ace only surrendered four hits in the club’s 5-4 loss to the Mariners, but three of those were home runs and two came immediately after two-out walks. deGrom has only had seven other games in his career where he'd given up three or more homers.
“It was two-out walks and not executing,” deGrom said. “The third and the fourth were the exact same. Got two quick outs, then a bad walk and a pitch right down the middle. Today we lost because I did a terrible job once again. So we’ve gotta figure it out. I’ve gotta make quality pitches. I can't walk guys with two outs, and I gotta stop throwing the ball down the middle.”
In the loss, deGrom recorded career strikeout No. 1,800 when he K'd Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford in the second inning.
It was the third of his five strikeouts on the day. He became the fastest pitcher to 1,800 career strikeouts in MLB history by both games (240) and innings (1,493 1/3). The previous marks to reach 1,800 punchouts were held by Randy Johnson (243 games) and Chris Sale (1,498 IP).
“That doesn’t matter,” deGrom said. “We needed to win.
“We need to win series. Once we lost the first two, we needed to at least split here. Like I said, I came out and threw the ball terribly. It’s on me. We gotta go back home and get back on track.”
Seattle virtually dismantled deGrom and the Rangers, taking three of four in the series, and sending them back to Texas after a disappointing road trip between Anaheim and Seattle (2-5). And deGrom has struggled as much as anybody on this trip.
The right-hander has allowed 10 runs across his last two starts on this road trip (July 28 at LAA and Aug. 3 at SEA). He had allowed only 10 runs in his previous six starts combined before this trip (June 20-July 22).
“If I knew [the issue], I'd fix it,” deGrom said. “I'm pretty angry with that. So like I said, we needed to win that game. I came out and did a terrible job. So it's on me. … The first homer today, I yanked a fastball across the plate to [Jorge] Polanco, and then bad slider to Julio [Rodríguez], and then a fastball literally right down the middle to Crawford. The solo shot, I can live with. The two walks and then the two homers, I can’t. So just all around. Not a very good job by me.”
The Rangers opened the second half after the All-Star break with an 8-1 homestand, including a series win over the AL Central-leading Tigers and sweeps over the A’s and Braves. The road trip was a big opportunity to gain ground in the AL West and Wild Card races with other teams like the Astros and Yankees falling in the standings.
Instead, Texas lost two winnable games to the team ahead of them in the standings (Mariners) and another two games to a team well below them.
“It was a tough road trip,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “We lost some tough games. Today was another one. They're battling out there. I'll say that it was a tough day for Jacob. He was off with this command that was evident. … There's no use dwelling on it, you know? I think that's fair to say that it could have been different. This road trip today was a tough one.”