Rangers Fall to Gausman, Blue Jays in Series Opener

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

May 26, 2025

Blue Jays 2, Rangers 1

ARLINGTON, Texas (May 26) — The Texas Rangers dropped their series opener to the Toronto Blue Jays, 2–1, in a Monday Memorial Day matinee in front of a decent crowd of 33,766. The only glimmer of hope they had was a solo home run by Wyatt Langford. They’ll try to even this three-game set on Tuesday evening with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm Central at Globe Life Field. Right-hander Bowden Francis (2–6, 5.54 ERA) will get the ball for the Blue Jays, and the Rangers will counter with righty Nathan Eovaldi (4–3, 1.60 ERA).

Langford Goes Yard

The Blue Jays opened the scoring right away in the top of the first. With two outs and Jacob deGrom on the hill for the Rangers, Daulton Varsho stepped to the plate and belted an 0–1 pitch to right for his eighth homer of the year, giving the Blue Jays a 1–0 lead.

They extended their lead to 2–0 in the top of the fourth. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led things off with a single to left. On deck was Varsho, who advanced Guerrero to third with a ground-rule double on a line drive to right.

Up next was Alejandro Kirk, who drove in Guerrero with a sacrifice fly to right.

The Rangers sliced the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth against Blue Jays righty Kevin Gausman. With one out in the frame, Langford was due up. He lined a 1–1 pitch over the wall in left for his 10th home run of the season.

What Went Right for the Blue Jays

Battling their way through a tight pitchers duel, the Blue Jays were able to come through. They had limited scoring opportunities on Monday. Varsho’s homer in the top of the first set a valuable tone. Kirk was able to follow up on it with his sacrifice fly in the fourth that plated Guerrero. Varsho was the offensive star for the Blue Jays, going 3-for-5 with a double, a homer, a run scored, and an RBI.

What Went Wrong for the Blue Jays

Langford has given several teams fits at the plate this year, and today he decided to pick on the Blue Jays. His solo shot in the fourth inning was their only blemish from a sluggish Rangers offense.

Tough Luck for deGrom

Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom made his 11th start of the season Monday and was saddled with his second loss. He now owns a record of 4–2 with an ERA of 2.42. His line on the afternoon was 5 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R-ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR, 81 pitches/50 strikes.

deGrom did not strike out a batter in this contest. It marked the first time in his career that he failed to record a strikeout in an outing. The Blue Jays entered play Monday with an AL-low 380 strikeouts.

Gausman’s Afternoon

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman completed eight innings for the second time in 2025 on Monday, earning the win. He held the Rangers to one run on five hits over that stretch. His line was 0 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 96 pitches/72 strikes. Gausman threw first-pitch strikes to 26 of the 29 batters he faced (89.7%), the highest first-pitch strike percentage of his career. His record improves to 5–4 with an ERA of 3.68.

He tossed 14 consecutive strikes to begin his start and needed 23 pitches to complete his first three frames, tied for his fewest pitches through three innings in his 301 career starts. Gausman retired 14 of the final 17 batters he faced after the solo home run. He has won each of his last three starts against the Rangers since the start of 2024, posting a 1.64 ERA in that span.

After retiring the side in order in the ninth, right-hander Jeff Hoffman earned his 11th save of 2025.

Bochy’s Postgame Comments

After the game, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy discussed deGrom’s performance in this one. “We wanted to lighten his load,” he said. “He was working pretty hard and we want to take care of him. It takes a toll on you when you reach 81 pitches in the sixth, and we’d like to have him for as long as possible. You can’t pack a whole season in one start.”