Sep 12, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) pitches against the New York Mets during the first inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
QUEENS, NY — Lynrd Skynrd’s Simple Man played, Jacob deGrom stalked the mound at Citi Field, spun a gem, and emerged a winner once more in Queens.
But for the first time in his 12-year career, it came as the visiting starting pitcher, as the 37-year-old starting pitcher — who won two NL Cy Young Awards in his nine years in New York — went seven innings, allowing three runs on four hits with two strikeouts in his return to his old somping grounds and in the Texas Rangers’ 8-3 victory over the Mets on Friday night.
“It means a lot,” deGrom said. “The fans were great to me tonight. They were great to me when I was here. So I always enjoyed taking the mound in front of this crowd, so tonight was always special…
“[The Mets] had a good plan against me tonight. They were on the down-and-away. I was mixing it up; luckily, they were hitting it right at people. A lot of earlier contact, which helped me get a little bit deeper in the game.”
He was unhittable after allowing three straight hits to start the third inning, retiring the last 15 batters he faced despite striking out just one during that span. Just one night after the Mets did not record a base runner in their final 25 at-bats of a 6-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, they mustered just one hit in their final 21 at-bats on Friday.
deGrom and Texas’ win extends New York’s misery, as its grasp on the final National League Wild Card spot loosens even further. With their seventh straight loss, the Mets (76-72) are in scoreboard-watching mode with the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds both beginning the night 1.5 games behind them.
“They’re frustrated, I’m not going to lie,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I’m going to keep saying it, we have to get out of it. We have to come back tomorrow and find a way to get the job done and win one game… There’s a lot of experience here. They’ve been through a lot before, and I have confidence we’ll get through this one, too.”
While deGrom rarely got run support in his prime years with the Mets, the game was already decided before he even threw a single pitch. The Rangers battered 22-year-old Jonah Tong, batting around in the first inning while scoring six runs on four hits. Tong recorded just two outs before getting pulled, while walking three and recording a single strikeout.
“I didn’t give the start I had for sure wanted,” an emotional Tong said. “It definitely hurts just knowing that I put some more stress on the bullpen.”
He walked two of the first three men he faced, and after getting the second out, allowed RBI singles to Josh Jung and Alejandro Osuna to make it 2-0. He walked Jonah Heim, then Cody Freeman drove in two with a single. Ninth-place hitter Michael Helman doubled home another two, in what was Tong’s last batter of the night.
“He had a hard time throwing in the strike zone with pretty much all of his pitches,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “There was the fastball, some good changeups but even that got away from him, too… He had a chance, first-and-third, two outs, gets an 0-2 count, and leaves a fastball there and they got him. A couple of them there. Probably a pitch-selection [issue]… It could have been a different story.”
The extended frame did little to unnerve deGrom, who needed just six pitches to coax three groundouts in the first. He threw just nine to get through the second.
He ran into his first spot of trouble in the third, as the Mets halved their deficit by plating three runs. Francisco Alvarez led off with his eighth home run of the season, going with a 98-mph fastball and sending it the other way into the right-field seats.
Francisco Lindor and Cedric Mullins followed up with a single and a double, and both came in to score on sacrifice flies from Juan Soto and Pete Alonso.
Those two run-scoring flyouts, however, were the first of 15 consecutive Mets retired by deGrom, as he quickly restabilized to keep his old friends at bay.
“I just tried to go back to locating,” deGrom said. “I located some good pitches, I went in between innings, and I looked at the pitches they were hitting. Some of those, I had to tip my cap to them. They’re good hitters over there, and I had to mix it up a little more and not be so one-dimensional.”
By recording the first out in the seventh inning, deGrom now qualifies for the ERA title for the first time since 2020, which he is in the running for with a miserly mark of 2.82.
“Jake’s got great stuff, we know that,” his long-time teammate and Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo said. “We’ve had first-hand experience with him. He located the ball well… It’s just knowing you’re going to get a bulldog fight up there. He’s always going to come after you with everything he’s gone. I always respected that about him when he was here, and he showed that again tonight.”
Meanwhile, the Rangers re-broke it open behind Dylan Moore’s pinch-hit, two-run home run in the seventh inning off reliever Gregory Soto — the first Mets reliever to yield runs after Huascar Brazoban and Ryne Stanek combined to throw five shutout frames.
For more on the Mets, visit AMNY.com
→ Continue reading at amNY
