Jacob deGrom takes the blame after rough start, allows eight runs vs. White Sox

Jacob deGrom’s night against the White Sox ended with a familiar theme for the Rangers right-hander: accountability. After allowing eight runs in the outing, deGrom said he needed to “do a better job” and that the start belonged to him, not his teammates. He pointed specifically to the damage in the first inning, when he surrendered six runs and quickly put Texas in an uphill position.

In his postgame assessment, deGrom framed the performance as part of a season-long frustration that he said has become too repetitive. He described it as something he has said to reporters “too many times,” and he did not try to soften the responsibility. “Tonight’s on me,” he said, adding that once he falls behind or issues walks, he has to find a way to get outs and prevent innings from snowballing.

The scale of the problem was underscored by the historical comparison included in the MLB report. The outing marked the most runs deGrom has allowed since 2017, highlighting how far the performance fell from the standard he has set throughout his career. Even for a pitcher who typically controls leverage with command and strike-throwing, the first inning proved the pivot point, because it established a run rate Texas could not afford to surrender again later.

For the Rangers, a game plan built around turning early leverage into outs and using innings efficiently is only as strong as the pitcher’s first frame. When six runs come in the opening inning, every subsequent decision changes. The team’s bullpen planning, defensive tempo, and even lineup urgency become reactive, with Texas needing more offense than it would have if deGrom had kept the game within reach from the start.

DeGrom’s comments also reflected the emotional weight that comes with being viewed as the staff’s anchor. The MLB release captured him as not simply describing results, but diagnosing the pattern: walks, falling behind in counts, and the inability to get the outs necessary to steady the game. That combination can distort a pitcher’s rhythm, especially when a hitter-friendly inning ends quickly for the opponent.

What happens next for Texas and deGrom is likely to hinge on how he responds to the “quick start” problem described after the White Sox game. In the near term, the Rangers will be watching whether the issue was addressable through pitch selection or execution, or whether the inning reflected deeper command problems that take multiple starts to correct.

For fans, the headline is more than one rough outing. Because this was the most runs he has allowed since 2017, it stands out as a rare high-water mark for negative variance in deGrom’s pitching history, making it a critical moment in understanding how the Rangers manage the ace role when the early innings do not go to plan.