Thoughts on an 8-3 Rangers win

Rangers

8, Mets 3

• That is a very nice way to start a road trip.
• Jacob deGrom made his triumphant return to New York, though he had to wait a while to take the mound, what with the Rangers scoring six in a long top of the first.
• It wasn’t dominant, blow-everyone-away deGrom on Friday. He struck out only two batters, and generated just five whiffs, in seven innings.
• But the flips side of that is that deGrom was efficient, needing just 88 pitches to get through seven innings and 25 batters. He walked no one allowed just four hits — three of which came with no one out in the third, when he gave up a homer, a single and a double to start the inning. A pair of sacrifice flies brought home the two runners and turned a blowout into a, well, not a blowout, at least for a while, and made for some antsiness over whether Texas was going to both stop scoring runs after the big first inning and give up runs that would allow New York back in it.
• But no, it was fine. After Francisco Lindor’s double — the third of the three hits to start the third inning — deGrom retired the next fifteen batters he faced, and the Mets only put one more runner on base the rest of the game.
• That one baserunner was a single off of Robert Garcia, who pitched the eighth. Phil Maton pitched the ninth. The Rangers had a five run lead and one can ask why two of your top late inning arms are pitching in a five run game. I would say the answer is that the Rangers were off on Thursday, Maton and Garcia aren’t necessarily ahead of Chris Martin and Shawn Armstrong in the pecking order right now, and with 15 games to guy and the Rangers fighting for a playoff spot Bruce Bochy doesn’t want to mess around.
• Fun fact — the Mets didn’t have a hit with a runner in scoring position in this game. They also didn’t have an official at bat with a runner in scoring position, since the two plate appearances with a runner in scoring position resulted in sac flies. So officially they were 0 for 0 with runners in scoring position in the game.
• Texas had a fun first inning which saw them put six runs on the board and chase Mets starter Jonah Tong. What had to be maddening for Mets fans is that the Rangers weren’t scorching the ball in the first inning — the hardest hit balls were a Jake Burger one out fly out and Josh Smith’s fly out to end the inning.
• Some not terribly hard hit balls that were dumped in front of outfielders, together with three walks, were responsible for the six runs. And of course, Alejandro Osuna and Cody Freeman had singles, with Michael Helman’s double finishing off the scoring, so the booth got to engage in “Little Rascals” talk.
• But yeah, from the perspective of a Mets fan, watching your heralded rookie struggle to throw strikes, and then seeing a collection of no-names on the other team drive runners home, would have to make you want to tear your hair out.
• The Rangers had various opportunities after that, though the only other scoring was when Dylan Moore had a pinch hit two run homer in the seventh inning, and yeah, that had to be annoying for Mets fans as well.
• We also had a bit of drama in the eighth. Former Ranger Reed Garrett gave up a one out single to Michael Helman. Josh Smith then bunted and reached, getting credit for a single, with Garrett throwing the ball away to allow Helman to reach third. Garrett immediately hit Wyatt Langford in the back with the next pitch, with the booth speculating it was Garrett being mad that the Rangers had bunted with a five run lead.
• That was one of two players where an infield single also featured an error, as in the second inning, Jake Burger grounded to first base, but Pete Alonso was shifted so far he couldn’t get to first before Burger would get there, and pitcher Huascar Brazoban wouldn’t be at first base in time. Alonso hesitated then threw to first well late anyway, Brazoban missed the throw, and it went into the dugout, resulting in Burger going to second and much booing from the home crowd.
• The Mets now have a seven game losing streak for the third time in 2025. They also had to use five relievers in the game, after using four relievers the day before.
• The Astros and Mariners both won, while the Red Sox lost, so the Rangers remain two games back in the A.L. West and for Wild Card 3, and are three games back for Wild Card 2.
• Jaocb deGrom’s fastball hit 99.6 mph, averaging 98.0 mph. Robert Garcia touched 95.6 mph with his fastball. Phil Maton maxed out at 91.8 mph with his cutter.
• Jake Burger had a 108.6 mph ground out and a 102.1 mph single. Josh Smith had a 107.7 mph double. Josh Jung had a 105.4 mph double. Dylan Moore’s home run was 103.6 mph.
• Gotta keep taking it one game at a time. Next one up.