ARLINGTON, Texas — Two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom struck out five over three innings Friday night in his first home start for the Texas Rangers in nearly 17 months after his recovery from elbow surgery.

The only run deGrom allowed was when Seattle’s No. 9 batter, Josh Rojas, led off the third with a homer.

A week after throwing 3⅔ scoreless innings in his season debut on the road, also against the Mariners, deGrom threw 37 of 58 pitches for strikes and had one walk. Rangers manager Bruce Bochy had said the 36-year-old right-hander would throw about 60 pitches.

Rookie right-hander Jack Leiter replaced deGrom to start the fourth with the Rangers down 1-0.

Texas went ahead on Nathaniel Lowe‘s two-run single in the fourth inning off George Kirby. That broke the Rangers’ 34-inning scoreless drought against the Mariners right-hander over a span of eight starts since September 2022.

It was the first start at home for deGrom since he left in the middle of the fourth inning against the New York Yankees on April 28, 2023. That was the sixth and last start in the first season of his $185 million, five-year contract.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Two-time World Series MVP Corey Seager expects to be ready for the start of spring training with the Texas Rangers after the shortstop’s second hernia surgery in less than eight months.

“Just to be able to have a healthy offseason is nice,” Seager said Friday, a week after his second operation. “Frustrated, obviously, that your season had to end early, but in general you know it probably was the right thing to do, and just to be able to look forward to next year.”

The latest operation was a right sports hernia repair, on the opposite side of his abdomen from the Jan. 30 procedure. Seager missed most of spring training and did not play in his first exhibition game until March 23.

Seager was ready for the March 28 opener in his third season of a $325 million, 10-year contract. The 30-year-old shortstop hit .278 with 30 homers and 74 RBIs in 123 games before going on the injured list Sept. 4 with right hip discomfort.

The rehab and recovery time is expected to be the same as after the last hernia repair.

“I’ll probably treat it similar, just to be able to do that in the offseason and start working out as soon as possible,” Seager said. “Yeah, if anything happens, I’m not really worried about it. You’ve got some extra time.”

Seager was dealing with the hernia issue last postseason, managing it with minor treatment in the trainer’s room. He hit .318 with six homers, 12 RBIs and 15 walks in 17 postseason games as the Rangers won their first World Series title.

Three of his postseason homers were in the World Series against Arizona, including a tying drive in the ninth inning of the opener. He was the World Series MVP, like he was for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020.

The hope was the issue would subside with extended rest during the offseason.

“I’m glad we got it done, so we will have [him] ready to go in spring training versus this past year,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s starting to move around a little bit better, but I’m walking faster than him still.”

Seager was batting .219 with two homers and eight RBIs in his first 29 games through May 2. He hit .296 with 28 homers and 66 RBIs in 94 games after that.

“I pretty much played this season, I guess, healthy … nothing bothered me,” he said. “The fact of not being probably where I wanted to in spring training, I mean I wasn’t, but as a whole nothing was really wrong with me all year.”

MIAMI — Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies returned from a broken left wrist Friday and was held hitless in Atlanta’s 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins.

Albies was activated from the 10-day injured list for the final 10 days of the Braves’ playoff berth pursuit. The switch hitter batted right-handed only and was 0-for-4.

“We know what he can do,” manager Brian Snitker said after the game. “It’s still good to see him in that lineup, I’ll tell you that.”

Albies had been sidelined since fracturing his left wrist in a July 21 loss to St. Louis. The three-time All-Star got hurt trying to catch a throw when Michael Siani stole second in the ninth inning. Siani slid into Albies as the infielder reached for the ball, bending back his glove hand at an awkward angle.

“He brings so much heart and soul to our game and the team,” Snitker said. “Who he is, how he plays, it’s hard to replace that. If you play the game the way Ozzie does, you’re going to play it right. Having him in there is just a huge spark for our club.”

Albies, who was hitting .255 with eight home runs and 46 RBIs before the injury, was second in the Braves order Friday, with Michael Harris II in the leadoff spot. Snitker said that was to get more speed at the top of the lineup.

“Just kind of a good mix with what Ozzie brings anyway,” Snitker said. “And then you got a couple of guys the can run up there at top of the order.”

Second baseman Cavan Biggio was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett.

Atlanta is trying to earn a playoff berth without reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr., who had a season-ending knee injury on May 26.