Nationals Held to One Hit as Jacob deGrom, Rangers Take Series Finale 2-0
Final: Texas Rangers 2, Washington Nationals 0
The Washington Nationals could not solve Jacob deGrom on Thursday night, managing only one hit in a 2-0 loss to the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field.
Washington’s pitching staff kept the game within reach throughout the night, but the Nationals offense produced virtually nothing against deGrom and the Texas bullpen. Four Rangers pitchers combined on a one-hit shutout as Texas won two of three in the series.
The Nationals fell to 61-68 with the loss.
deGrom dominates Washington
Facing a depleted Nationals lineup, deGrom looked every bit like the two-time Cy Young Award winner.
The 38-year-old right-hander allowed just one hit and one walk over six scoreless innings, striking out 10. He matched his season high in strikeouts and improved to 9-8.
Washington’s only hit against deGrom came from Andres Chaparro, and the Nationals finished the entire game with only four baserunners left on base. Texas pitching struck out Washington hitters 15 times overall.
The night also included a major career milestone for deGrom.
He entered the game needing two strikeouts to reach 2,000 for his career and immediately struck out Daylen Lile and Abimelec Ortiz, becoming the 95th pitcher in Major League history to reach the mark. DeGrom reached 2,000 strikeouts in his 272nd career game and 1,661st inning, making him the second-fastest pitcher ever to reach the milestone by both measures.
After deGrom departed, Jakob Junis, Chase Silseth and Jacob Latz finished the shutout. Latz worked the ninth for his 25th save.
Alvarez gives Nationals a chance
Lost in Washington’s offensive struggles was another solid performance from left-hander Andrew Alvarez.
Alvarez allowed only one run on four hits over five innings. He walked three and struck out five while throwing 75 pitches, 41 for strikes. His ERA dropped to 3.60 despite taking the loss.
Texas finally broke through against Alvarez in the third inning when Corey Seager drove an opposite-field solo home run to left-center field. It was Seager’s 13th homer of the season and gave the Rangers a 1-0 advantage.
Alvarez prevented the game from getting away from Washington from there.
The Nationals bullpen also pitched well. Orlando Ribalta allowed one hit and struck out two during a scoreless sixth, while Clayton Beeter worked a scoreless seventh despite allowing a walk.
Texas did not score again until the eighth.
Rangers add insurance in eighth
Ezequiel Duran tripled in the eighth inning against Tom Cosgrove, putting the Rangers in position to add an important insurance run.
Nicky Lopez followed with a sacrifice fly to center field, allowing Duran to score and extending the Texas lead to 2-0.
Cosgrove allowed one run on one hit over his inning of work.
Texas finished with six hits, led by Seager and Duran with two apiece. Seager homered and doubled, extending his streak to four consecutive games with two hits.
Nationals offense disappears again
Washington’s inability to generate offense was particularly disappointing after Wednesday’s 6-0 victory over Texas.
The entire three-game series featured shutouts. Texas won Tuesday’s opener 5-0, Washington responded behind a dominant Cade Cavalli performance with a 6-0 victory Wednesday, and the Rangers closed the series with Thursday’s 2-0 win.
The Nationals were also playing without some major pieces of their lineup.
CJ Abrams was unavailable after suffering a left ankle sprain during Wednesday’s game, while James Wood was also out of the lineup. That left Washington trying to navigate one of baseball’s most difficult pitchers without two of its most dangerous offensive players.
Still, one hit over nine innings is not enough regardless of who is available.
Washington finished the night with zero runs, one hit and no errors, while leaving four runners on base.
Series result
The Nationals leave Arlington having dropped two of three:
Tuesday: Rangers 5, Nationals 0
Wednesday: Nationals 6, Rangers 0
Thursday: Rangers 2, Nationals 0
It was an unusual series in which neither team scored in the same game.
Washington’s pitching was good enough to win the finale, but the Nationals could not provide Alvarez or the bullpen with any run support.
MSB Take
Andrew Alvarez deserved better.
Holding the Rangers to one run over five innings against Jacob deGrom gave Washington about as good an opportunity as anyone could reasonably expect. The problem was that the Nationals never made deGrom uncomfortable.
One hit and 15 strikeouts as a team tells the story.
There is no shame in getting beaten by deGrom when he pitches like this, especially with Abrams and Wood unavailable. However, Washington has now been shut out twice in three games, and the lineup simply has to find ways to manufacture offense when the home runs are not coming.
The encouraging part continues to be the pitching.
Cavalli dominated Wednesday, Alvarez pitched well Thursday and the Nationals allowed only two runs in the final 18 innings of this series. If Washington can combine performances like that with even average offensive production, there are games to be won down the stretch.
On Thursday, two runs would have been enough to completely change the game.
Washington could not even find one.
Final: Rangers 2, Nationals 0.
