504 days later, deGrom brings the heat in his return

SEATTLE -- For the second straight night, Texas’ pitcher faced trouble in the first inning of a long-awaited start. And for the second straight night, the Rangers' bats gave him an early cushion to work with.

Despite a 5-4 loss to the Mariners in September, when they’d need a Texas-sized miracle to make the postseason, the Rangers had another show that excited their fanbase for the future.

Thursday, it was No. 2 prospect Kumar Rocker making the Mariners look foolish. Friday, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy got to give the ball to Jacob deGrom for the first time since April 28, 2023, and the two-time Cy Young Award winner delivered in his return from Tommy John surgery, giving fans a glimpse at another pitcher expected to be a pillar for the franchise moving forward.

Appearing 504 days after his last start, following the second operation on his UCL, just getting that glimpse was a victory.

“He got out there tonight, and I know he was excited to get out there, as we were excited to see him,” Bochy said. “He passed all the tests with how he threw the ball.”

deGrom went 3 2/3 innings, striking out four and allowing four hits on 61 pitches. He left the game with runners on second and third and two outs in the fourth, but rookie Walter Pennington made sure deGrom’s return would be a scoreless one by getting J.P. Crawford to ground out.

Texas’ bullpen -- taking on an extra-large assignment this week, backing up three straight starters on pitch counts -- kept the lead for two more innings but allowed five runs in the final frames.

But deGrom, who said he was just about too nervous to sleep coming into the day, showed that he’s still got the arsenal that made him a four-time All-Star.

Starting off his night, deGrom showed the hard stuff. Eleven of his 14 first-inning pitches were four-seam fastballs, including 98.7 mph offerings that blew by Julio Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena.

The latter got the righty out of a small spot of trouble after Victor Robles reached third on an infield single, a stolen base and an error.

As deGrom’s outing wore on, he went more and more to the slider, finishing with seven of his 10 whiffs on the breaking ball. At one point in the third inning, he threw 10 sliders in a 12-pitch span, and ended his night with just one fastball in his final 10 pitches.

Afterward, deGrom said the mix was a result of a few pitches he hadn’t liked. In one rehab start, he threw five sliders in a row, saying after that he just wanted to work on the pitch and probably wouldn’t do that in a Major League game. Friday, he did it again across third-inning battles with Josh Rojas, Robles and Rodríguez.

“I’m trying to get that slider to be consistent and look like my fastball down and away, and it just hasn’t quite been there yet,” he said. “So that’s the work in progress.”

But the best news is that there can be a next start to work on it. He's met his goal of returning with room to spare for the regular season.

“It’s big to get out and pitch in a Major League game so you don’t feel like you’re in rehab for two straight years,” deGrom said. “Now, it’s just trying to get things back where they were, executing pitches like I normally do. That’s the goal for the next two, is to really dial things in, and then you can treat it like a normal offseason and get ready to play next year.”

Before the game, Bochy confirmed that the Rangers would run with a six-man rotation the rest of the way, setting both Rocker and deGrom up for two more outings.

Both will get the chance to make home debuts at Globe Life Field next week, then get one more outing on the season-ending road trip, giving Texas a high note for the end of the month.

“For both of them, coming off the rehab they had to come off, I think it shows that they’re healthy, and they have to feel good about that,” Bochy said. “They pitched great ballgames against a Major League team. That’s what they have to feel good about as they go into the offseason, and for us, to know that we have two good pitchers -- really, really good pitchers -- that are going to help us next year.”