ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jacob deGrom is set for another chance to become the second-fastest pitcher to 2,000 career strikeouts when he is scheduled to start for the Texas Rangers on Thursday night, a week after pitching only two innings in his previous game because of triceps fatigue.
Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said Wednesday, which would have been the right-hander's normal turn in the rotation, that deGrom recovered well after a bullpen session the previous day, and will start the series finale against Washington.
“Feels good, so good to go,” Schumaker said, adding that deGrom won't be on any specific limitations. “We'll watch it and just kind of talk to him in between innings to make sure everything's good.”
The two-time Cy Young Award winner has 1,998 strikeouts in 1,660 1/3 innings over 271 starts since his big league debut in 2014. DeGrom has 147 strikeouts in 120 2/3 innings this season.
Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson got his 2,000th strikeout in his 262nd game for the quickest by games, ahead of Clayton Kershaw’s 277. Chris Sale holds the record by innings at 1,626, with Yu Davish’s 1,697 1/3 currently second.
At 38, DeGrom (8-8, 3.95 ERA) is trying to become the ninth active player and 94th all-time to reach the milestone. He would be the fourth this season, following Kevin Gausman, Sonny Gray and Aaron Nola.
DeGrom struck out three in the two innings he pitched in a 7-0 loss at the Los Angeles Angels last Thursday, when he gave up two runs and five hits in a 32-pitch second inning. He has also been dealing with left hip and glute issues over the past month or so.
“He’s got a lot going on ... so any extra days right now at this time of the year for our pitchers are huge,” Schumaker said. “But for DeGrom to get the extra rest, I know he didn’t want it, but for everything going on, hopefully it’s beneficial.”
After his Cy Young Awards with the New York Mets in 2018 and 2019, and the pandemic-shortened 2020 season when he led the National League in strikeouts for the second year in a row, deGrom made only 35 starts total from 2021-24 because of a series of injuries. He missed most of 2023 and 2024 because of elbow surgery after making only six starts in his first season with Texas.
The active leader with 3,554 strikeouts is Justin Verlander, who at 43 is the oldest player in the majors and is retiring after this season. He has made only one start this year for Detroit, on March 30 before going on the injured list because of left hip inflammation. He then sustained a left hamstring strain during a bullpen session in mid-June.
Verlander is eighth on the career list, 20 behind Hall of Famer Don Sutton for seventh. The strikeout king is Nolan Ryan with 5,714 over 27 seasons before he retired in 1993 at age 46.
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Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob Degrom (48) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
As people in Hawaii work to remove massive amounts of debris and fix damaged infrastructure in the wake of Lala, forecasters on Wednesday warned of the likelihood of another tropical cyclone forming southeast of the islands.
The death toll from the storm rose to two with the discovery of a man’s body near a highway.
The remains of the man in his 60s were located by residents in a pasture on Tuesday in the largest and southernmost district on the Big Island, a day after police were asked to conduct a welfare check, police Lt. David Po’ohina said in a news release.
Po’ohina said the death appears to be storm-related. Last weekend, Lala raked past the Big Island as a hurricane and then skirted neighboring islands as a tropical storm, pounding the volcanic archipelago with high winds and heavy rains before moving to the west. Lala also was blamed for the death of a 93-year-old woman whose body was found Monday after she was reported missing in Naalehu on the Big Island’s southern tip.
Now well west of Hawaii's main islands, Lala has reached major Category 3 strength with top sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph) on Wednesday in what the National Hurricane Center called the first major hurricane of 2026 in the Central Pacific Ocean. But Hawaiians were put on notice for another storm system, located far to the east-southeast.
The hurricane center said conditions appeared conducive for a tropical depression to form within days.
It's too early to tell the exact location or potential wind, rain and storm surge impacts. However, “interests in the Hawaiian Islands should closely monitor the progress of this system,” the hurricane center said, adding it could be a hurricane when it moves near or over the islands by the weekend.
Work continued Wednesday to clear away tons of mud and debris left behind by a torrent of water that inundated buildings, some of whose roofs were sheared off by the winds. Dozens of homes were washed from foundations, bridges were damaged and a collapsed section of a two-lane road had cut off access to the community of Pahala.
The heaviest recorded rainfall, 43.54 inches (1.1 meters), occurred in Laupahoehoe on the northeast coast of the Big Island, the National Weather Service said.
About 19,000 customers remained without power on Wednesday in Hawaii, down from nearly 104,000 on Monday afternoon, the Hawaiian Electric utility said. It said nearly all customers should have power restored by Friday.
On Wednesday, Lala was moving to the northwest at 9 mph (15 kph) and was expected to turn toward the north early Thursday. It was bearing down on a remote area at the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago. Hurricane warnings were posted for portions of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument from Lisianski Island to Maro Reef.
The weather service said the storm was forecast to veer east of the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. The population in one of the most remote places on Earth consists entirely of a few dozen U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff, volunteers and contractors. Forecasters said there were no tropical-related advisories for the Midway Atoll and any impact might include some elevated surf with a limited amount of rain.
This satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Lala on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean northeast of Hawaii. (NOAA via AP)
Punalu'u Bake Shop is seen surrounded by debris in Naalehu, Hawaii, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, after a severe weather system went through the area. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Debris is seen along Hawaiʻi Belt Road near Pahala, Hawaii, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026, after a severe weather system went through the area. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
