Jack Leiter delivers five strong innings for Texas Rangers, but Yankees pull away

The rookie right-hander was charged with five runs, but two of them scored after he exited in the sixth inning.

ARLINGTON — Those who didn’t watch Jack Leiter pitch and saw only his final line will mistakenly think that the Texas Rangers’ rookie right-hander struggled again.

In five-plus innings, Leiter was charged with five runs on seven hits.

Those who watched, though, saw the second overall pick of the 2021 draft pitch well for five innings by attacking the strike zone against one of the game’s most potent lineups.

Maybe he tired in the sixth, an inning he didn’t reach in his first four MLB starts. Maybe the Yankees had something for him as he navigated their lineup for the third time.

But amid the wreckage of an 8-4 loss at Globe Life Field, the Rangers were encouraged by how well Leiter pitched and are eager to see it again this weekend against the Angels. He was encouraged, too.

“Anytime you take the ball, you want the team to have another win in the win column. It didn’t happen tonight,” Leiter said. “But a lot of positives. I felt good about my stuff. I felt execution-wise, that was the best it’s been, at least up here so far for me.”

Leiter surrendered some hard contact that turned into outs and yielded some soft contact that turned into hits, which happens to every starting pitcher. But he didn’t walk a batter for the first time as a major-leaguer, which rates as one of the most encouraging aspects about the outing.

In Leiter’s nine-pitch first inning, Marcus Semien speared Juan Soto’s 104.4 mph grounder and turned it into a double play. Aaron Judge followed with an 111.4 mph line drive that Wyatt Langford caught in front of the left-field wall.

Leiter worked a 1-2-3 second inning on nine pitches. Two infield hits helped the Yankees get on the board in the third, and the only pitch Leiter probably regrets was a hanging slider that Gleyber Torres turned into a two-run double.

Leiter, though, rebounded to retire Soto on another grounder to second and struck out Judge. Two more perfect innings followed, and Leiter had retired eight straight when he took the mound in the sixth.

Torres and Soto started the frame with singles, one a dribbler and one a rifle shot up the middle, and Judge followed with a double down the left-field line. That was it for Leiter, and reliever Chase Anderson allowed both runners he inherited to score in the Yankees’ five-run inning.

“It’s kind of a dream scenario that you hope to get into, pitching deep into a game in the sixth inning, a Cy Young winner on the other side and an MVP at plate,” Leiter said. “I didn’t get it done in the sixth, but it’s, obviously, an awesome situation to find myself in.”

Leiter is on schedule to start again Saturday, but he might get bumped to the bullpen next week when Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer return. But as the Rangers look toward 2025, Leiter and left-hander Cody Bradford could stay in the rotation while Jon Gray and Andrew Heaney head to the bullpen.

Those decisions will become official if/when deGrom and Scherzer are ready to go. Maybe Leiter’s performance helped the Rangers make up their minds.

“I thought Jack was pretty good,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “No walks. He had good stuff, and he was pitching efficiently, too. The progress, you see it each time out. The confidence is growing.

“You see him attacking hitters. I think it’s just a matter of getting out there every five or six days and see him continue to grow. The stuff, it works. It plays up here.”

Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com