Thoughts on a 4-3 Rangers loss

Astros

4, Rangers 3

• Welp, the Rangers had to go and spoil Nicky Lopez Day.
• Maybe we can start talking about what Joc Pederson might bring back at the trade deadline.
• Another winnable game not won. Dum de dum.
• Jacob deGrom did good work, but once again was not able to register is 100th career win. He did pass Hideo Nomo for 109th on the all time strikeout list.
• It doesn’t bode real well, that deGrom giving up two runs in six innings has one in a place where you feel like that’s not going to get it done.
• deGrom decided to deal with his hittable fastball issues by not throwing it as much, and instead throwing his slider 50 times out of 97 pitches. The slider generated 14 whiffs, which, you know, that’s pretty good. All told deGrom generated 20 swings and misses which, again, that’s pretty good.
• One of the runs deGrom gave up was on a Taylor Trammell double followed by a pair of fly balls. The other was Yordan Alvarez destroying a slider that caught too much of the plate, the first time this year deGrom has given up a homer on a slider.
• Alvarez also homered on a 3-0 pitch by Tyler Alexander to start the eighth inning, as he continued to stomp all over the Rangers’ pitching staff like Godzilla tearing through Tokyo.
• Alexander then walked Christian Walker on a 3-1 pitch that was initially called a strike, but that Walker successfully challenged. Trammell then laid down a bunt that Alexander threw away, resulting in Walker scoring and Trammell going to third.
• If you want a positive spin on that sequence, Trammell was stranded at third. So good job there, Tyler, who got Cam Smith to ground out before being lifted for Gavin Collyer, who got the final two outs of the inning.
• Alvarez came up with two outs and a runner on first in the ninth. He was intentionally walked that time.
• It was especially sad because Joc Pederson matched Alvarez, hitting a pair of homers, and scored all three Rangers runs. Pederson had half of the six hits the Rangers registered in the game.
• Statcast has Alvarez’s home runs from the game at 428 feet and 448 feet. Pederson’s homers were 402 feet and 423 feet. Pederson’s 423 foot homer was the 8th longest ball hit at the Shed this season, while Alvarez’s were the 4th and 6th farthest.
• Seven of the 10 farthest hit balls at the Shed this year have come in the last two games. The four farthest hit balls at the Shed since the start of 2025 have come in the last two games.
• Per Statcast, there have been 130 balls hit at least 400 feet since the start of the 2025 season. 13 of them — 10% — have come in this series.
• It may be an aberration. We shall see.
• Jacob deGrom’s fastball topped out at 99.2 mph, averaging 97.3 mph. Chris Martin hit 95.4 mph with his fastball. Tyler Alexander’s sinker touched 92.0 mph. Gavin Collyer’s fastball reached 98.8 mph.
• Jake Burger had a 109.1 mph fly out. Joc Pederson’s home runs were 103.6 mph and 103.3 mph.
• Let’s try to split the series. I typed serious instead of series for some reason. Boy, would my face have been red…