New Texas Rangers Starter’s Debut Features High-Volume Inning in Loss

The Texas Rangers signed this veteran starter to help them eat innings, but he wasn’t able to eat as many as hoped in his debut.

Apr 8, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Patrick Corbin (46) delivers against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at Wrigley Field. | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

Patrick Corbin’s two best qualities is being healthy and eating innings. That’s what the Texas Rangers are paying for.

Well, he did come out of his debut on Tuesday healthy. As for eating innings, he only got through four frames in the Rangers’ 10-6 loss to the Chicago Cubs at frigid Wrigley Field.

The loss ensured the Rangers (8-4) would lose their first series of the season. More importantly, the game was Texas’ first chance to see what they had in Corbin.

The Rangers were hoping to give Corbin more time to build up for a start. His anticipated debut was mid-April after a couple of additional starts in the minors. But moving Jack Leiter to the 15-day injured list with a right middle finger blister forced Texas to call Corbin up and have him pitch in this series.

Texas is not blind to his recent track record. In his last five seasons with the Washington Nationals, he went 33-70 with a 5.62 ERA.

But, with injuries to Jon Gray and Cody Bradford, the latter of whom was moved to the 60-day injured list on Tuesday, the Rangers needed a veteran innings eater. Corbin was available, had stretched himself out at his Florida home and was signed for a little over $1 million.

It’s a low-risk deal. The Rangers were hoping it would come with a little more reward on Tuesday.

Corbin threw 74 pitches, 47 of which were strikes. He gave up five hits, three runs (all earned) and two walks. He didn’t strike out a hitter and gave up a solo home run to Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson as part of a three-run second inning that put Chicago ahead, 3-2.

The second inning is what kept Corbin from pitching longer. He faced eight hitters in the frame, seven of which came after Swanson’s home run. Both of his walks also came in that inning. He also had a wild pitch.

“He did a nice job bouncing back and giving us two good innings there (after the second),” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said on the Rangers Sports Network postgame show. “First time out he wasn’t bad. They put together some base hits at the end of the second inning, but he didn’t cave in. It was a tie ball game when he left.”

Corbin threw six different pitches on Tuesday per Statcast. More than half of his pitchers were either a cutter or a slider. He reached 92.7 mph with his fastball and dropped as low as 65.6 with his off-speed pitches. Cubs hitters had seven hard-hit balls but barreled just one off Corbin.