pc28����

“Everything we thought this game would be, runs would be at a premium,” Bochy said. “I didn’t know it’d be one.”

Jake Burger led off the sixth with a homer and Texas beat the Astros on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series.

The 36-year-old deGrom (4-1), who missed most of the past two seasons after joining Texas because of Tommy John surgery, struck out seven over eight innings and walked just one. The right-hander threw 69 of his 96 pitches for strikes.

His first career start against Houston, on the 11th anniversary of his big league debut with the Mets, was his longest start since a shutout for New York against Washington on April 23, 2021.

“The goal is just to try to take the ball as much as I can, try to stay out on the field, do what I can in between to get ready for the next one.” deGrom said. “You miss that much time, you really miss this game. ... Being able to come back and pitch some (late) last year, that gave me a little peace of mind going into this season. So I was able to prepare well this offseason and try to go out there as many times as they let me.”

Brown (6-2) entered the game tied for the major league lead with wins. He struck out nine without a walk in a 91-pitch effort, throwing 65 strikes. He retired the first 12 batters before Adolis García lined a sharp double to left to start the fifth, the inning before .

“They both know it’s a pitchers’ duel and sometimes in a pitchers’ duel, one pitch sometimes is all it takes. That’s what happened in today’s game,” Astros manager Joe Espada said.

“That one just stinks, you know? You want to come out on top of those games and it didn’t fall our way,” Brown said. “There’s a handful of pitches throughout the course of the game that got foul balls or guys popped them up or hit a groundball. (Burger) was able to put a really good swing on it and make us pay for it.”

Brown had gone 6-0 in seven starts since losing his season debut in a 3-1 loss to the Mets. Over exactly a year, since May 15, 2024, Brown is 17-7 with 26 quality starts and a 2.18 ERA — only Paul Skenes has a better ERA in that span.

For deGrom, he has a 1.49 ERA over his last six starts.

He got plenty of help from his defense in the latest one. Rangers right fielder García made a sliding catch of a sinking liner by Mauricio Dubón for the final out of the seventh when Houston had a runner at second base. García also had another sliding catch near the line after running a long way to open the fourth, and center fielder Evan Carter had a nice running catch against Jake Meyers to start the fifth.

“Probably my defense behind me,” deGrom responded when asked what allowed him to have the longest of his 18 starts for Texas since signing a $185 million, five-year contract in December 2022.

“He’s one of the best ever in this game,” Bochy said. “He’s just incredible with the stuff, his command and everything, and his competitive nature.”

___

AP MLB: