Jacob deGrom Strikes Out 12 in Dominant Outing, But Rangers Bullpen Blows Comeback Bid Against Mariners

Jacob deGrom turned in one of the most dominant outings of his career on Wednesday night, striking out 12 Seattle Mariners batters and retiring his first 15 hitters in a row — his best strikeout total in four years. Yet the Texas Rangers still walked away with a heartbreaking 4-3 loss, as the bullpen unraveled the moment deGrom’s night ended, sending the 38-year-old’s name trending across the country on Thursday.

DeGrom, a two-time National League Cy Young Award winner, has spent this season working his way back into ace form after injury setbacks limited him earlier in his Rangers tenure. The right-hander entered Wednesday at 10-9 with a 3.96 ERA, numbers that undersell just how sharp he has looked over his last several turns through the rotation. He faced the minimum through seven innings against the Athletics on September 1, allowing just one hit, and followed that with a solid six-inning, seven-strikeout effort against the Tampa Bay Rays days later. Against Seattle, he took that form to another level.

A Vintage Performance Wasted

DeGrom allowed just one hit and issued a single walk across six scoreless innings at T-Mobile Park, striking out eight of his first nine batters faced — the fifth time in his career he has opened a start that way. His 12 strikeouts marked his highest total since September 19, 2022, when he fanned batters for the New York Mets against Pittsburgh. For six innings, it looked like the Rangers were about to steal a road win behind one of the best pitchers of his generation.

Instead, the bullpen collapsed in the seventh. With deGrom’s pitch count managed and his outing over, reliever Jakob Junis surrendered a go-ahead, three-run homer to Julio Rodriguez in a four-run frame that flipped the game. The Mariners held on for a 4-3 win, dropping deGrom to a no-decision despite arguably his best start of the season. Texas had won the series opener 10-5 the night before, but Seattle salvaged the finale behind Rodriguez’s blast.

What It Means for the Rangers’ Stretch Run

The result stings for a Rangers club still fighting for playoff positioning down the stretch. DeGrom has emerged as exactly the stabilizing force Texas hoped for when he passed on a trade-deadline move and exercised his no-trade clause to stay with the organization. Bettors tracking the American League playoff picture should keep an eye on how oddsmakers price Texas’s remaining schedule, and fans looking to get in on the action can check current lines through the DraftKings promo code before the next series.

DeGrom’s next scheduled start will be closely watched given how his stuff has trended upward in September — no walks in eight outings this year, a career-worst ERA that belies genuinely nasty recent process, and swing-and-miss numbers that look like the deGrom of old. If the Rangers’ bullpen can hold leads better than it did Wednesday, his final turns of the regular season could be the difference in a tight postseason race. For now, deGrom’s dominant, ultimately unrewarded outing against Seattle is a reminder of both how good he still can be and how unforgiving late-season baseball is when the pieces around an ace don’t hold up their end.