Collapse in Houston all but ends Texas Rangers’ playoff hopes

The Texas Rangers came to Houston with the opportunity to put themselves into a playoff spot. Instead, they were swept by the Astros, including a loss Wednesday with Jacob deGrom on the mound.

HOUSTON — Corey Seager and Marcus Semien want to return this season to the Texas Rangers‘ lineup, and no one should question the resolve of Adolis Garcia after he hobbled around right field Wednesday night.

Jacob deGrom wanted to make 30 starts this season, and he’s only one away after he started the finale of a critical three-game series against the Astros.

They all might be listening to that dreadful hold music after Wednesday.

All that was at stake in the Astros series was the Rangers’ playoff chances, and deGrom and the rest needed to be great. They weren’t, not one of them. That’s not true: Carl Edwards Jr. was fantastic out of the bullpen the first two games. The rest were either OK or bad, and that wasn’t nearly good enough.

So, the players and coaching staff can begin looking at tee times and vacations for October. The front office can begin remaking the offense and determining which players they want on the 2026 roster. Hard decisions are looming.

Some might come as soon as the Rangers’ upcoming homestand, like telling the injured players and deGrom to take the rest of the season off, especially if the Rangers are eliminated from playoff contention.

That seems inevitable now, despite the hope generated during the previous three weeks. The Astros knocked the Rangers 4 1/2 games out of the wild-card race by scoring five times in five innings Wednesday against deGrom in a 5-2 victory.

The Rangers have nine games remaining, and even if they were to win them all, they are still a long shot to qualify for the postseason.

“This series, it’s obvious it didn’t go the way we had hoped,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s a tough series for us. We didn’t play our best baseball.”

Something was a miss from the start with deGrom, who labored through 35 pitches in the first inning. The trouble started when center fielder Wyatt Langford couldn’t secure a deep flyball by Astros leadoff man Jeremy Pena, and Houston finally broke through on a base-loaded, two-out single by Yanier Diaz.

The Rangers quickly countered with two in the second, with Josh Jung and Cody Freeman driving in runs, but Jose Altuve connected against deGrom for a two-run shot in the third. Pena swatted a solo shot in the fifth, which deGrom finished at 92 pitches.

“I didn’t do a good job tonight,” he said. “That’s why we lost the game.”

The Astros found success against the Rangers’ rotation, scoring all but one of their 16 runs against Jack Leiter, Merrill Kelly and deGrom. In the dugout after the two-run first, deGrom threw his glove in an uncharacteristic display of frustration.

The Altuve homer came on a pitch above the strike zone and over the middle of the plate, but deGrom said he was trying to go down and away. Frustrating, for sure, but he was most frustrated not rising to the occasion in a high-stakes series.

“We needed to come in here and win at least two out of three, and we ended up getting swept,” deGrom said. “And like I said, we definitely needed to win this one, and I did not do my job.”

He has surpassed all expectations this season in terms of his workload, which might be catching up to him. The velocity and sharp movement on his pitches are there, but he’s lacking the command that has made him one of the greatest pitchers of the past decade.

The wear and tear of a 35-pitch first inning might have also contributed to his woes.

“He was battling out there,” Bochy said. “He just got a couple mistakes there.”

Up next is a day off Thursday, followed by three games against Marlins. After another off day Monday, the Twins come to Globe Life Field for three. The Rangers have gone 5-1 on each of their past two homestands against better competition than they’ll be facing over the next week, but 5-1 might not be good enough.

The final series, Sept. 26-28, is at Cleveland. The Guardians are another team the Rangers must pass to for the final wild-card spot.

What looked so hopeful on Monday now looks hopeless.

“We know our backs are to the wall. That’s how we have to look at it,” Bochy said. “We have nothing to lose. Go out there and give it everything. We’ve got to find our way back in and get back to playing good baseball.”

Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com