Walks kept deGrom’s trouble growing in Minnesota

Jacob deGrom allowed eight runs in four innings Friday night without giving up a home run. That unusual line became the clearest description of the Rangers’ 10-2 loss to Minnesota: the Twins did not need repeated swings over the fence when walks and strings of contact kept turning ordinary opportunities into crooked numbers.

The Rangers led 2-0 after the first inning at Target Field, then watched Minnesota score six in the second and two more in the fourth. DeGrom finished with eight hits allowed, three walks, five strikeouts and 89 pitches. The issue was not one isolated blow. It was the inability to keep traffic from becoming damage.

The second inning began with Josh Bell walking. No out had been recorded. Ryan Jeffers followed with a single, Walker Jenkins added another, and Royce Lewis lined a two-run single that tied the game.

Bell and Jeffers scored, while Jenkins moved to third and Lewis remained at first. The walk had supplied the first run, and the three singles supplied the rest of the rally’s opening burst. Texas still needed all three outs.

The next batter finally provided one. Emmanuel Rodriguez struck out. That should have offered a reset, but Ryan Kreidler beat out a bunt single to deGrom, scoring Jenkins and moving Lewis to second. Luke Keaschall then lined a two-run triple, bringing home Lewis and Kreidler. After Keaschall’s hit, Minnesota had five runs on five hits and one walk in the inning.

The sixth run came during Brooks Lee’s plate appearance. A deGrom wild pitch allowed Keaschall to score before Lee lined out. Kody Clemens then singled, and Bell grounded out to finish the inning. Ten Minnesota batters came to the plate. Six scored, with the runs arriving through a two-run single, an infield single, a two-run triple and a wild pitch rather than a home run.

There was plenty to criticize even with the ball staying in the park. A home run can erase the need for a long sequence; Minnesota instead kept extending one. The walk to Bell did not account for all six runs, and Rodriguez’s strikeout briefly interrupted the inning.

But the Twins repeatedly put another runner aboard or moved an existing one before Texas could collect the second out. The result was a six-run inning that required pressure more than power.

DeGrom did answer with a clean third. He retired Jeffers on a flyout, struck out Jenkins and then struck out Lewis. Three batters, three outs, no baserunners. That frame is the fair counterpoint to the harsher reading of his night: for one inning, the sequence stopped. A single scoreless inning, however, could not repair Minnesota’s four-run lead.

The fourth showed why the second was more than a one-inning curiosity. Emmanuel Rodriguez lined out to begin the frame, but Kreidler walked. Keaschall doubled and scored Kreidler.

Lee then popped out, yet Clemens singled Keaschall home. Bell walked, creating another baserunner without a hit, before deGrom struck out Jeffers. The damage was smaller—two runs on two hits and two walks—but the pattern was familiar: a free pass, contact that advanced the inning, another runner and a late escape after the scoreboard had already moved.

Keaschall finished 4-for-5 with a double, triple, three RBIs and three runs. His triple was the key blow in the second; his double restarted the scoring in the fourth. Clemens went 3-for-4, drove in one run with his fourth-inning single and later hit a two-run homer against Gavin Collyer in the sixth.

Minnesota had enough variety to punish Texas before the only late home run arrived.

The Rangers’ offense gave itself a useful start. Brandon Nimmo doubled, Corey Seager singled him home and Josh Jung scored on Wyatt Langford’s groundout. After that, Texas collected four more hits, all singles.

The Rangers also had two walks and three hit batters, but stranded seven runners and scored no more. Joe Ryan settled after the opening inning, working six innings with four hits, two runs, eight strikeouts and one walk.

Trevor Williams followed with two scoreless innings, which limited further damage without changing its source. DeGrom’s night was decided in the second and confirmed in the fourth, when Minnesota turned free passes into a steady supply of consequential contact. The missing home run was a curiosity. The unattended traffic was the game.

Sources

Official game data

Official game box score