The Texas Rangers scored nine runs while the San Diego Padres scored seven runs.
When the Rangers and Padres took the field for the first inning in tonight’s game, there were just two umpires on the field as the rest were delayed by travel issues. That’s pretty strange. It was also the least weird thing about the first inning.
On Jacob deGrom’s 38th birthday, the veteran frustratingly allowed a two-out, RBI single in the first inning — because he is a 2026 Texas Ranger, after all — but that was merely
the start of a bad beginning. deGrom loaded up the bases without getting that final out of the first frame before San Diego first baseman Ty France parked a 1-0 pitch over the fence in right field for a two-out grand slam to put the Padres up 5-0.
That was the fourth first inning home run that the Rangers have allowed in four games during this current homestand. The Rangers have allowed 14 first inning runs during this stretch and now sport an unfathomable 7.56 ERA in the first inning this season.
You couldn’t even really say “here we go again” because again implies tonight’s start was the norm and even these Rangers sometimes keep their bad starts to just a run or two. This wasn’t “again,” this was a full-on disaster.
Texas’ best starter of the season allowed five runs — all with two outs — before the lineup was even allowed to trudge up to the plate in a stretch where the team has been worn down by first inning woes in a season that has been defined by them. Happy birthday!
So, yeah. Game over, right? The Rangers allowed three runs in the homestand opener earlier this week against the Minnesota Twins. They lost. They allowed two runs in the first inning on Tuesday to Minnesota and lost by ten runs. They allowed four runs in the first inning in the finale against Minnesota and were swept.
Five runs? Might as well pencil in the tally in the loss column.
Except by the time the first inning ended, and the rest of the umpire crew had weaved through Arlington traffic to take the field, it was 6-5 Rangers.
Unlike any of those games against Minnesota, and unlike most of the games otherwise, the Rangers came storming back. It didn’t even take the John Blake peckaway theory. They didn’t methodically score a run here and a run there before overcoming San Diego in the end. They did it all immediately.
Here’s a fun fact: The Padres came into tonight’s game dead last in baseball in runs scored. The Rangers came into tonight’s game ahead of only the Red Sox and Padres in runs scored as baseball’s 28th best run producer. The Shed is notoriously one of the most difficult places to score runs where people play baseball.
So these two teams combined to score 11 runs in the first inning.
The Rangers got their six runs thanks to five hits with RISP in the first inning. It felt like the Rangers hadn’t had five hits with RISP in the whole of June. There had been many instances this season where even one first inning run allowed felt like enough to derail Texas. It was shocking to see them score six runs after allowing five.
Following that weird first inning, a more usual baseball game unfolded. The Padres tied the game in the fourth on another France home run, but luckily that came with no one on base. The Rangers countered immediately again with Wyatt Langford doubling in Josh Jung to put Texas back up 7-6.
The Rangers extended their lead to 8-6 in the sixth via an Ezequiel Duran RBI single. That came a half inning after deGrom’s night concluded, surely one of the stranger outings of his career. The birthday boy eventually finished six innings and allowed six runs on six hits and three walks with nine strikeouts in 106 pitches. He also got a win!
The Padres scored again in the top of the eighth to pull to within a run but just like every other inning that San Diego scored in, the Rangers returned serve with Langford again giving Texas a two run cushion with a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth.
After another 1.1 innings of scoreless ball from Jacob Latz, following 1.2 innings from Jakob Junis, the Rangers had a very weird, very Jac(k)ob-filled victory.
Player of the Game: Langford let the way with three hits, including the RBI double and the big insurance run with is fifth home run of the year. The Rangers have been needing Langford, and especially extra base hits from Langford, in the worst kind of way this season so getting a couple from him tonight made all the difference.
Up Next: The Rangers and Padres will play the second game of this series with RHP Nathan Eovaldi expected to make the start for Texas opposite RHP Walker Buehler for San Diego.
The Saturday afternoon first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 3:05 pm CDT and you can catch the telecast on the Rangers Sports Network.
