SEATTLE -- Asked about his start Friday night at T-Mobile Park, Jacob deGrom thought for a moment, then rattled off a laundry list of negatives.
¡°Didn¡¯t do anything well,¡± the right-hander said. ¡°Didn¡¯t locate well. Walked four guys. Didn¡¯t hold runners. With two strikes, didn¡¯t locate well. Was all over the place. Put us in a bad spot, and the bullpen had to cover a lot of innings.
¡°That¡¯s on me, I¡¯ve got to do a better job.¡±
deGrom¡¯s final line in the Rangers¡¯ 5-3 loss to the Mariners to open a three-game set in the Pacific Northwest included four innings, three runs on three hits and four walks, with four strikeouts.
It¡¯s an uncharacteristic struggle for the two-time Cy Young Award winner, and all the nits were easier to see than in his last start, thanks to a similarly tough night for the Texas lineup.
¡°We all expect so much from Jake,¡± Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. ¡°He¡¯s human, he was battling command.¡±
Those command issues began early. In the bottom of the first inning, a 1-1 fastball to Jorge Polanco that was supposed to be down and away ended up sailing up and in, and Polanco launched it into the right-field seats at 108.7 mph to put the hosts up 1-0 two batters into deGrom¡¯s outing.
The next inning, it was another high fastball that caught up to deGrom. This one was called for in an 0-2 count, but Rowdy Tellez tagged it all the same for the Mariners¡¯ second homer of the night.
¡°He¡¯s so good with his location, but tonight wasn¡¯t quite as sharp,¡± Bochy said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how good you are. If you¡¯re not quite on top of your command, you¡¯re susceptible to giving up the long ball.¡±
Combined with his start against the Rays last week, deGrom -- whose 0.80 home runs per nine innings ranks 11th-best among starters since his rookie year in 2014 -- has allowed four long balls in 9 2/3 innings. It¡¯s just the third time in his career he¡¯s allowed multiple home runs in back-to-back starts and the first time since April 2019.
Meanwhile, deGrom¡¯s four walks were his most in an outing since 2022.
Looking back on his outing, deGrom said that it was one issue causing both the free pass and the home run problems.
¡°Once again, getting the ball down,¡± he said. ¡°In the bullpen, I was really good throwing the ball down, [and] the offspeed off of that down. Then I get out there and everything¡¯s kind of up. It¡¯s the same thing that happened against Tampa. You look at that outing, they laid off really good sliders because that¡¯s the only thing that¡¯s down. No fastballs are located down. I¡¯ve just got to do a better job of throwing the ball where I want to, and that¡¯s the bottom line.¡±
deGrom worked around his first three walks with inning-ending strikeouts in the second and third innings. In the fourth, though, his final walk caught up with him after Leo Rivas got on base, stole second and came home on a J.P. Crawford chip shot into left field.
Through three starts to begin the season, deGrom has a 4.30 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP in 14 2/3 innings.
After deGrom, the Rangers got a solid inning from No. 23 prospect Marc Church and a dominant outing from Hoby Milner, who retired all five batters he faced on just 21 pitches.
While the bullpen held the game down, the offense got itself up to speed, chipping away at the Seattle lead. Texas got on the board with a Josh Jung wedge shot into right field to score Adolis Garc¨ªa in the top of the fourth, then tied it up at 3-3 on Jung¡¯s first home run of the season, a first-pitch drive the other way that barely cleared the wall in right field.
¡°He¡¯s one of our guys,¡± Bochy said of Jung, who has gone 6-for-12 with three extra-base hits since returning from the IL earlier this road trip. ¡°He¡¯s a clutch hitter, and he showed it tonight.¡±
Seattle finally broke through against the bullpen in the eighth, when Cal Raleigh hit a two-run home run off Chris Martin, the first earned runs Martin has allowed this season.
¡°The long ball got us tonight,¡± Bochy said. ¡°We made too many mistakes in the middle of the plate. They took advantage of it, and that¡¯s what hurt us tonight.¡±