The Rangers dropped their fourth consecutive game in an ugly 14-2 drubbing at the hands of the Mets tonight. That continues a tough month-long stretch that has dropped the defending World Series champions six games below .500.
To the extent there’s a silver lining of Monday for Ranger fans, it’s that the team provided some good news on the injury front. Manager Bruce Bochy told reporters that Max Scherzer’s next start will come at the major league level (X link via Jeff Wilson of Rangers Today). While Bochy didn’t specify a date for the future Hall of Famer’s season debut, it seems likely to fall during this weekend’s series against the Royals.
A herniated disc sent Scherzer to the operating table last December. The initial recovery timeline called for a June or July return. Scherzer seemed to be ahead of schedule early in the year before discomfort in his right thumb slowed his progress. The three-time Cy Young winner restarted a rehab stint on June 9. He pitched twice with Triple-A Round Rock, logging 79 pitches across 4 2/3 innings on Saturday.
Texas has a starting five of Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Michael Lorenzen, Dane Dunning and Andrew Heaney. Unless Texas opts for a six-man rotation, Scherzer’s return will bump someone from that group to the bullpen. It certainly won’t be Eovaldi or Gray. The Rangers signed Lorenzen to fill a sixth starter/swing role, but he has turned in a 2.86 ERA while working six innings per appearance through 11 starts. Even with middling strikeout and walk numbers, Lorenzen has probably pitched his way into a long-term rotation spot.
Heaney, who’ll take the ball against the Mets on Wednesday, has started 13 of 14 appearances. The southpaw owns a 4.19 ERA with a decent 21.4% strikeout percentage and a strong 6.2% walk rate — similar numbers to those he turned in during his first season in Arlington. Dunning has had a tougher go this season, allowing 4.73 earned runs per nine. While his 26.7% strikeout rate narrowly leads Texas starters, the University of Florida product has issued walks at an uncharacteristic 11.6% clip while struggling with the home run ball.
Scherzer has been joined on the injured list all season by Tyler Mahle and Jacob deGrom. Mahle began facing hitters earlier this month as he works back from last May’s Tommy John procedure. deGrom, who underwent the same surgery in early June 2023, isn’t too far behind. He hit a milestone in his rehab on Monday, throwing off a mound for the first time in 12 months (X link via Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News). deGrom has been targeting a return to MLB action at some point in August.
This is great news, their return is good for the game!
He’ll be u injured by September again.
Six starts for deGrom and he’ll blow out his arm again. 30 innings, 62 strikeouts, and POP!
The man only knows one way to pitch, and that is MaxEffort!
Jake pitches to be immortal, but his mortality comes back to bite him over and over.
Electrifyingly beautiful to watch, but as rare as a White Tiger.
The only thing better than watching him pitch was watching him hit and pitch.
It’s very easy to envision Texas flipping the switch and going on a torrid run through the second half. Seattle definitely shouldn’t get comfortable.
It doesn’t matter how many stalwart pitchers they get back; the Rangers problem is the offense. It’s more anemic than the Mariners…last year the Rangers were hitting on all cylinders, this year not so much.
I don’t know why, but I just think this team feels empty without Josh Jung.
Is he really the key to all this offense?
As a mariners fan I know that if Texas catches fire then our 8.5 division lead will turn into a 10 game deficit in no time
That’s a real bad take and the epitome of defeatism. You’re giving Mariners fans a bad reputation with that loser attitude.
doesn’t make him wrong.
Yes it does. How bad do you have to be to drop twenty games in the standings? The Mariners aren’t dropping off the face of the earth.
How is the comment bad???
Last year Texas had the huge lead and eventually the astros and mariners caught them down when one team goes cold and the other gets hot
This year the mariners have one of the worst offenses and dfa’d people closing out games but are at the top because of 1 run games and pitching
If Texas or Houston starts going full force then the mariners are no chance for them at their current state
To me you seem like a fair weather fan at best to call yourself a Mariner fan. A 9 game lead will be hard to catch for any team, not saying it can’t happen but come on man have a little hope. The Mariners would have to take a huge dump to drop like you say.
A huge dump can happen when no one has an 800 ops and more injuries happen
I know I’m being a pessimist it’s just that I’ve seen this team collapse too many times and Texas and Houston simply have better rosters
Sorry for being a little impatient here, just one Q from me: Where is the trade deadline list? I like it better organized by position than the ranking list, which doesn’t really explain the market well.
A little impatient? The trade deadline is a month and a half away.
The Mets are winning! That’s good for baseball.
Now if they’d just sign everyone’s friend Trevor, they’d be all set!
Not my friend!
I hope DeGrom comes back because he’s so fun to watch. But at this point, his next major injury will be his pitching arm falling off.
Maybe I will see some good pitching in Milwaukee. Gowing next Monday and Wednesday. Always go to the discount games!
What’s the name of the Met’s player who early on last night openly explained Jon Gray’s pitch tip-off move to his teammate who was in the on-deck circle while he was in the process of returning to the dugout?
The neck discomfort is obviously the result of over exuberance/indulgence during bedroom gymnastics with model wifey Kate.