ARLINGTON -- Patrick Corbin, for better or for worse, is an innings-eater. It’s probably the biggest reason he’s in Texas right now.
After all, he made 32 starts for the Nationals in 2024, posting a 5.62 ERA across 174 2/3 innings. The 35-year-old southpaw led Washington in games started (170), innings pitched (946 2/3) and strikeouts (832) over his six-year tenure with the club (2019-24), ranking third in MLB in starts during that span.
That’s all good and fun. But it works out even better when he’s able to keep the scoring low as well.
On Wednesday night, he did just that. Corbin allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings against the Angels at Globe Life Field, helping the Rangers to a 3-1 win over their American League West foe.
“It was just a great job of pitching,” said Rangers manager Bruce Bochy. “He used the fastball well, the cutter. He just did a good job of keeping him off balance. He kept them honest there by using the fastball in, and he got some strikeouts by freezing them there with the changeup and the slower breaking ball. He just mixed it up. It really worked. … For a guy that missed Spring Training, that’s pretty impressive.”
This was just Corbin’s second start of the season. He did not pitch in any Cactus League contests after signing with the Rangers during the final week of Spring Training when the injuries of Jon Gray and Cody Bradford opened up the need for starting pitching depth.
In the first five innings, Corbin faced just one over the minimum. He allowed a pair of hits, though one was erased quickly by a double play. That was the first time he’s faced 16 or fewer batters through five innings since April 17, 2018, against the Giants, part of a one-hit shutout effort for Corbin as a Diamondback.
Though he got into a bit of trouble in the sixth after a string of one-out hits from Kevin Newman, Taylor Ward and Luis Rengifo, reliever Shawn Armstrong slammed the door shut to keep the scoring where it was.
“I know of Corbin,” Angels manager Ron Washington said of the former Washington National. “We faced him for eight straight years when I was in Atlanta. The thing about him is he stays in the ballgame. He might give up some runs, but he stays in the ballgame. He's savvy. Their pitching just shut us down.”
Corbin collected six strikeouts to just one walk as he built up to 85 pitches. This came after not striking out any of his 19 batters faced in his last outing on April 8 at Wrigley Field.
All six of his strikeouts came his first time through the Angels order, marking his most K's when facing the opposition’s lineup in a game for the first time through the order since Aug. 3, 2021, against the Phillies (also six strikeouts).
Corbin said the volume of strikeouts on Wednesday was a combination of pitch usage and just getting acclimated to facing big league hitters again after not going through Spring Training.
“I think some different pitch usage there, especially when we got the two strikes, it was a little bit different today, and that was something that we talked about,” Corbin explained. “Game to game, it definitely changes. But like I said, it was good to get that one out of the way in Chicago and be able to come here and get better. I just hope to continue to improve.”
Part of that improvement will hopefully come just by getting more and more work with the Rangers' catchers and pitching coaches.
Jonah Heim, who caught Wednesday’s win, said the first time he had even caught Corbin at all was in the pregame bullpen at Wrigley. In the coming weeks, that communication and work together should only get better.
“I was kind of learning on the fly,” Heim said of Corbin’s first start. “We took that as a chance to get better, and had a lot of conversations before today's game. I thought today was really good. I feel like we were on the same page for all the games. There wasn't a lot of shaking. He wasn't out of rhythm a lot. He was making quality pitches and not leaving a lot over the plate for them to hit.”