ST. LOUIS (AP) — On his son Nolan’s birthday, Jacob deGrom got the whole family a gift he’ll never forget.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner tossed five scoreless innings to earn his 100th career win as the Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Monday night.
“It’s really cool,” deGrom said. “As a kid, your goal is to just play major league baseball and for it to become a reality and win 100 games in the major leagues, it’s kind of crazy to think about. Today was Nolan’s third birthday, so I’ll always remember that being my 100th night on his third birthday.”
The right-hander notched his 99th victory May 10 when he threw seven scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs.
In his first three attempts at reaching the century mark, the 37-year-old deGrom (4-4) went 0-2 while allowing 12 runs over 15 innings. He finished 1-3 with a 5.72 ERA in five May starts, but Monday night was different after the calendar flipped to June. He yielded just four hits and struck out eight to help the Rangers win their fourth straight game.
“I was trying not to do too much,” deGrom said. “Having the meeting, talking to (catcher) Danny (Jansen) I was like, `Hey, tonight we’re hitting the glove as many times as we can. Mechanics are what they are. We’re throwing everything else out the window. We’re going back to how I used to pitch.'”
Selected in the ninth round of the 2010 amateur draft, deGrom debuted for the New York Mets in 2014 and was the NL Rookie of the Year.
Despite going 100-69 with a 2.61 ERA in 260 career starts, deGrom has only made 30 starts five times in his first 12 big league seasons, and 2025 was his first time making 30 starts since 2019.
“He’s never really felt 100%,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “I’ve said it before, he should be a Hall of Famer. I think he’s going to be a Hall of Famer. That’s how dominant he’s been throughout his career, and he’s still got a couple of years left in him, too.”
DeGrom is the 16th active pitcher to reach 100 career wins after Texas teammate Nathan Eovaldi became the 15th on July 30, 2025, against the Los Angeles Angels.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
