Early lead turns to ugly loss for Rangers as key mistake bites Jacob deGrom vs. White Sox
· Yahoo Sports
ARLINGTON — Building a 2-0 lead early in the game with your ace on the mound should almost always lead to a win.
Visit amunra-opinie.pl for more information.
That wasn't the case Monday night at Globe Life Field, as the Texas Rangers' 2-0 lead badly devolved into a 10-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox. Texas ace Jacob deGrom was beaten up by Chicago's young lineup for five earned runs over 4⅔ innings and the issues almost entirely stemmed from an ugly fifth inning.
After dancing out of a first-inning jam and giving up a run on a Miguel Vargas RBI double in the third inning, deGrom seemed to settle down. But in the fifth inning, after allowing the tying run and loading the bases, deGrom was one strike away from surviving the inning with the score still tied.
Instead, deGrom's 1-2 slider caught too much of the plate and Andrew Benintendi laced it into the short right field corner for a bases-clearing double.
"It was just kind of poor execution all night, really," deGrom said after the game. "I was behind quite a bit and then I needed to execute there and I didn't. I didn't get it low enough and it gave him a chance and he was able to keep it fair. A couple walks hurt me, pitch count climbed and then I wasn't really locating that well in that at-bat. Needed that ball to be under for a swing over. I had a pitch to work with there and it needed to be for a chase and I didn't throw it where I needed to."
Benintendi's swing was the deciding factor in the game and the Rangers played from behind the rest of the game.
After dropping two out of three in Atlanta, the drubbing at the hands of Chicago with deGrom on the mound is a tough pill to swallow for Texas. Having deGrom on the mound was an opportunity for the Rangers to get back on track and start a crucial homestand on the right foot, and the Rangers fell short.
The two-time Cy Young winner didn't shy away from taking responsibility after the game and said there were no physical issues in his first start back from a mild glute strain.
"I felt fine," he assured reporters after the game. "I just was falling behind quite a bit tonight and just left a couple balls over the middle of the plate and they didn't miss them. It boils down to not executing well. We have a lead, Joc [Pederson] hits a homer there in the first and we had a 2-0 lead. I gave up the one run and then there in the fifth, gave up four. I just did a poor job tonight, so that's on me."
For a team in the middle of a playoff chase with the Aug. 3 trade deadline looming, every game is beyond critical. The loss dropped the Rangers back to .500 at 50-50 and, with the Mariners' 8-0 win over the Reds, back into second place in the AL West. With the rest of the series against the White Sox and a four-game set against Seattle this weekend, there is plenty of pressure on the Rangers to give president of baseball operations Chris Young a reason to believe in the roster ahead of the deadline.
Despite the mounting pressure, deGrom thinks Texas needs to remain even-keeled.
"Show up the same way every day, and that's to win baseball games," he said. "We played good going into the break and haven't played as good right after the break, so we've got to lock in and play good baseball. We've got to do it for the rest of the year. Luckily, we're in a spot where we're right there in this division."
With the White Sox in town and the Mariners on deck, deGrom's directive to "lock in" would seem to be a necessity if the Rangers want to turn this season-defining stretch of games around.
Texas Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford goes low but is anable to connect while batting in the bottom of the 6th inning of play against the Chicago White Sox. The Texas Rangers hosted the Chicago White Sox for the teams’ MLB game at Globe Life Field in Arlington on July 20, 2026. (Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News)