DeGrom ‘not thrilled’ with debut, but Rangers win
ARLINGTON — Perhaps there’s some irony in Jacob deGrom‘s first start as a Texas Ranger on Thursday. Known for getting little run support in his years with the New York Mets, deGrom got plenty from his new teammates – except they came after he was chased from the game by the Philadelphia Phillies.
DeGrom, 34, lasted just 3⅔ innings, giving up five runs on six hits, all for extra bases, including five to the opposite field. Both the extra base hits and opposite field ones were career highs given up by deGrom. It was just the fifth time in his career he allowed five earned runs.
“I’m not thrilled how I threw the ball but we got the win,” deGrom said after the 11-7 victory. “I went back and looked at some of the pitches that they hit. They did a good job of battling. Some of those were off the plate.”
Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm got to him twice, with a second inning home run and fourth inning double. It came after deGrom mowed down Philadelphia in the first inning, striking out two while throwing only 10 pitches. But then the struggles began as the Phillies started going to right field, both against deGrom’s fastball and slider. He was clocking in at 99 to 101 mph on the radar gun but not putting guys away in the second and third innings.
“I need to make an adjustment,” deGrom said. “I need to see them leaning out over and make the adjustment and go into [inside] them.”
New Rangers manager Bruce Bochy summed it up this way: “He wasn’t quite as sharp today. That’s fair to say.”
Neither was Phillies starter Aaron Nola. Staked to a 5-0 lead, the Rangers stormed back, scoring nine times in the fourth inning. Right fielder Robbie Grossman‘s three-run shot tied the score at 5 before Nola was pulled shortly thereafter.
“All I can say is baseball is back and the roller coaster of emotions is [also],” Grossman said. “I’m just glad we came away with a win.”
Grossman was asked how often its likely deGrom will pick up the offense after they picked him up on Opening Day.
“A lot, a lot,” Grossman said. “I’m just glad I don’t have to face him anymore.”
DeGrom was only scheduled to throw about 65 pitches as he was slowed at the beginning of spring training with a side issue. He made it to 73, declaring himself ready to expand his pitch count as soon as his next start. He just wants it to go better.
“I didn’t make pitches when I needed to but the most important thing is we got a win,” he said.
The victory was the first for Bochy since 2019 as the three-time winning World Series manager said he felt blessed to be back in the dugout. Putting up a crooked number after getting down 5-0 helped his mood after the game.
“Not quite like we thought the game would go with those two guys starting,” Bochy said. “It’s about picking each other up. Good comeback. Great comeback.”
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
The San Diego Padres have acquired second baseman Luis Arraez in a trade with the Miami Marlins for reliever Woo-Suk Go and prospects Dillon Head, Jakob Marsee and Nathan Martorella, the teams announced Saturday.
The Padres also received nearly $7.9 million in cash considerations, leaving them responsible only for the major league minimum salary for Arraez.
The transaction represents the first significant move for the Marlins since Peter Bendix took over as the team’s president of baseball operations in November after Kim Ng departed. It marks the beginning of the Marlins’ teardown of an underachieving roster that has produced the third-worst record in the majors at 9-25 with a minus-61 run differential after reaching the postseason in 2023.
On the other side, it’s another aggressive deal for A.J. Preller, the leader of the Padres’ front office since 2014. Arraez, one of the sport’s best contact hitters, will give the Padres a needed left-handed-hitting weapon after Juan Soto was sent to the New York Yankees in December. San Diego is 17-18 with a plus-6 run differential.
“It’s really amazing — that guy is a baller,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said about Arraez after the Padres’ win Friday night. “He’s probably the closest to Tony Gwynn right now, so looking forward to seeing him in our lineup. … The guy’s a pure hitter, and I can’t wait for him to help us.”
Miami is paying San Diego $7,898,602 of the $8,491,398 remaining for the final 149 days of Arraez’s $10.6 million salary. That left his cost to the Padres at $592,796 — exactly a prorated share of the $740,000 minimum.
Arraez, 27, was the Marlins’ best player, an All-Star and batting champion each of the past two seasons. This season, he is batting .299 with a .719 OPS in 33 games, all started at second base. He also has extensive experience at first base.
“When a guy like that is taken out of the lineup or potentially traded, you feel it, because he’s such a good kid and one of the leaders in that clubhouse,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said, “so there’s definitely a shock value.”
Arraez is expected to start games as the Padres’ designated hitter, but the club plans to cycle through the DH spot. Jake Cronenworth, Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado could also get at-bats there. Bogaerts has been the club’s starting second baseman.
Go spent seven seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization before signing a two-year deal with a mutual option worth $4.5 million guaranteed during the offseason. The 25-year-old right-hander appeared in 10 games for Double-A San Antonio, posting a 4.38 ERA across 12⅓ innings after failing to make the Padres’ bullpen out of spring training.
Head was the Padres’ first-round pick (25th overall) last year out of high school. The 19-year-old center fielder is batting .237 with a .683 OPS and three stolen bases in 21 games in low-Class A.
Martorella is batting .294 with an .820 OPS in 23 games in San Antonio. The Padres selected the 23-year-old first baseman in the fifth round of the 2022 draft. Marsee, a 22-year-old outfielder, has spent the season in San Antonio batting .185 with two home runs. He was a sixth-round pick in 2022 out of Central Michigan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW YORK — Yankees ace Gerrit Cole threw off a mound Saturday morning for the first time since being shut down in mid-March, checking off another box in his road back from an elbow injury.
Cole took the mound in the Yankees’ bullpen at 10:40 a.m., hours before New York took on the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium. He said he threw 15 pitches, 13 for strikes and all fastballs. He said the pitches averaged 89 mph.
“It was exciting,” Cole said. “This was a good day for me. I was fired up.”
Cole, 33, started the season on the 60-day injured list after being diagnosed with nerve irritation and edema in his pitching elbow following one spring training outing. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner is eligible to come off the injured list May 27, but the Yankees have declined to share a timetable for Cole’s return.
On a scale from 1 to 10 — 10 being game ready — Cole reported he is “somewhere between 1 and 5.” He said how his body responds over the next 48 hours will decide when he throws off a mound again.
Cole’s injury was a significant blow to a club with championship-or-bust aspirations, but the Yankees’ starting rotation has been one of the best in the majors and a primary reason for the team’s 21-13 start. The rotation’s 3.43 ERA through Friday ranked ninth in the majors. Its 183⅔ innings pitched ranked fourth.
Luis Gil, Cole’s rotation replacement, logged the best start of his young career Wednesday, holding the explosive Baltimore Orioles scoreless on two hits over a career-high 6⅓ innings. Gil, 25, has recorded a 3.19 ERA in 31 innings across six starts despite leading the American League with 20 walks.
Earlier this week, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said neither the team’s nor the rotation’s success will impact Cole’s timeline. Asked whether the overall success has made his absence more “palatable,” Cole was unsure.
“I don’t really have anything unpalatable to compare it to,” Cole said. “You know what I’m saying? So I’m just kind of like, just like everybody else, just glad we’re playing well.”
Also on Saturday, the Yankees reinstated infielder Jon Berti from the 10-day injured list and designated former first-round pick Taylor Trammell for assignment.
Berti, 34, has been out of the Yankees’ lineup since April 10 with a left groin strain. The Yankees had selected Trammell off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 18, and he collected 1 hit, 1 walk and 2 runs in five games with New York.
Field Level Media contributed to this report.
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