73-81 – Rangers provide valuable lesson on the fleeting nature of joy

Texas will not finish the season above .500

The Texas Rangers scored a couple of runs but the Seattle Mariners scored eight runs.

For a little while there, the vibes were about as good as they’ve been in a long while for the 2024 Texas Rangers. But as we’ve been taught over and over, the good times can’t last and often they don’t even last for very long.

Jacob deGrom made his 2024 home debut, his first start at The Shed since his last one in April last year. He was Jacob deGrom. Laser guided 99 MPH fastballs, all-world sliders, and even a few disgusting changeups for good measure. deGrom lasted his prescribed 60 pitches (58, in fact) which got him through three innings where he allowed a run on three hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

With Texas trailing 1-0, and facing George Kirby, it wouldn’t have been much of a surprise if that one run was enough to head to the loss column despite many innings left in the contest. After all, Kirby hadn’t allowed a run to Texas in his last three outings dating back to last season and one-hit them just last week.

However, the Rangers scored not one but two runs off the pitcher seemingly designed in a lab to neutralize them and took a 2-1 lead in the into the fifth, and this came after Jack Leiter had spelled deGrom and pitched a 1-2-3 fourth with two strikeouts and a lot of impressive looking swing and miss stuff.

But this is the 2024 Texas Rangers and there are lessons to be learned until the bitter end. After all of those positives, the lead lasted only until the very next half inning as the negatives kicked down the door to let everyone know that we were enjoying ourselves a little too much.

The Mariners scored the game’s final seven runs with Julio Rodriguez producing five of those runs after hitting his sixth and seventh home runs against Texas in 2024 compared to eleven total against all other teams combined this year.

Both of those home runs came off Leiter who followed up his tantalizing first frame with some of his usual struggles which snowballed into a fairly ugly five innings of relief. Meanwhile, the lineup that finally broke through against Kirby immediately went back to being the pumpkin that we’ve seen all season.

And that’s how things went in the final Peagle night in Arlington.

Player of the Game: At least we got to see 58 Jacob deGrom pitches.

Up Next: The Rangers will suit up for the penultimate home game of the 2024 season with RHP Max Scherzer scheduled for what could be his final outing for Texas opposite RHP Emerson Hancock for Seattle.

The Saturday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 6:05 pm CT and will be broadcast on BS Southwest.