Reeling Rangers go to Jacob deGrom in rematch vs. Twins

Two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom will start for the final time in the 2025 season when the slumping Texas Rangers host the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night in Arlington, Texas.

The second contest of the three-game series will be a battle of right-handers as deGrom (12-8, 3.01 ERA) opposes Taj Bradley (6-8, 5.20) of the Twins.

Minnesota (68-89) recorded a 4-1 win Tuesday behind seven strong innings on the mound from Zebby Matthews and Koby Clemens' two hits and an RBI.

Tuesday's loss was the season-high eighth straight for the Rangers (79-78) and mathematically eliminated them from postseason contention. Texas was within two games of the AL West lead and two games back in the race for the league's final wild-card spot on Sept. 14 before its current swoon.

Wednesday's start will be the 30th of the campaign for deGrom in his first full season after elbow surgery. He hasn't started that many games in a year since 2019, and deGrom's 167 2/3 innings pitched in 2025 already are his most since 2019 and higher than his past three seasons combined.

He leads the Rangers in victories, innings pitched and strikeouts (177). If Texas were still in the running for the postseason, it's likely that deGrom would have started Tuesday's game and then pitched again in the season finale Sunday in Cleveland.

All that changed when the Rangers fell out of consideration for even the final wild-card spot in the AL.

"We could've pitched him twice," Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. "Unfortunately, with what's happened, we deviated from that plan."

deGrom lost his only career start against the Twins, allowing six runs on eight hits and a walk over just four innings (producing a 13.50 ERA) in the 2019 season when he was pitching for the New York Mets.

The Rangers also announced prior to Tuesday's game that All-Star shortstop Corey Seager and veteran second baseman Marcus Semien would not return to the team for its final five games. Bochy said it was "not worth the risk" to continue either player's ramp up from injury with only five games to play.

Bradley is still looking for his first win since being obtained from Tampa Bay at the trade deadline. He heads to the mound in the heels of a 10-5 setback to the Yankees last Wednesday in which he surrendered seven runs on eight hits and three walks over four innings.

"I was falling behind in counts after the first time through the order and not prioritizing the first-pitch strike," Bradley said. "I was trying to do too much. All those pitches started out of the zone, and some of my fastballs got away from me."

Bradley has allowed four or more runs in four of his past six starts, with his ERA rising from 4.35 to 5.20. He has an 0-2 record and a 5.03 ERA over 19 2/3 innings in four career starts vs. Texas, including a no-decision on the road on April 5 when he was with Tampa Bay.

--Field Level Media