After being passed over in his last scheduled spot in the rotation, Jacob deGrom will return to the mound on Monday when the Texas Rangers host the Los Angeles Angels in the opener of a three-game series in Arlington, Texas.
deGrom (10-5, 2.76 ERA) will be opposed by fellow right hander Jose Soriano (8-9, 4.00) for the Angels.
The Rangers head into the series on the heels of a three-game home sweep of fellow American League wild-card hopeful Cleveland. Texas’ starters in the Guardians series allowed just one run in 21 innings.
Los Angeles heads into the series opener after getting swept by the Chicago Cubs at home, with the latest setback a 4-3 decision on Sunday afternoon. The Angels have won just twice in their past nine contests and have fallen out of the wild-card picture.
deGrom will have had 10 days between starts when he takes the hill on Monday, dating back to a no-decision in Toronto on Aug. 15. He pitched five scoreless innings in that game while allowing just two hits and hitting a batter and recording five strikeouts.
He was held out of his next start to address shoulder fatigue. The 37-year-old deGrom had made each of his first scheduled 24 starts until being held out as precaution. His 24 appearances and 140 1/3 innings already are deGrom’s most since his 2019 season with the New York Mets.
Texas manager Bruce Bochy declared deGrom “good to go” for Monday after a successful bullpen session on Saturday.
“His goal was to make every start,” Bochy said about deGrom. “He really just wanted a couple more days. We’re the ones being a little bit more on a cautious side. We just felt like we should go ahead and give him a full skip.”
deGrom is 1-1 with a 3.80 ERA over 21 1/3 innings in four career starts against the Angels. He pitched twice versus Los Angeles last month, allowing three runs on five hits in a no-decision on the road on July 7 and five runs on seven hits in a loss in Anaheim on July 28.
Soriano was reinstated from the restricted list on Sunday when he needed extended time for paternity leave.
He has struggled in his past three starts, allowing a combined 12 runs on 17 hits and four walks over 15 2/3 innings while compiling a 1-1 record in August.
Soriano has been enigmatic, pitching six scoreless innings while allowing just two hits at home against the Dodgers on Aug. 12 and then getting raked for five runs on eight hits — including three homers — over 5 2/3 inning on Aug. 17 versus the Athletics.
“I don’t think there’s any issues,” Soriano told MLB.com through an interpreter. “This is baseball. One day you can be the best and the next day you can be the worst. I’m not going to say I’m very happy about it, but we got the victory.”
Soriano is 1-3 with a 3.42 ERA in six career appearances (four starts) versus the Rangers.
–Field Level Media
