No one is harder on Jacob deGrom besides, well… Jacob deGrom.

Despite having some quality outings since returning from his second Tommy John surgery, deGrom hasn’t felt close to being his normal self.

Until last night, that is…

deGrom turned in his best start of the season, firing six shutout innings as he mowed down the Athletics’ order on just 65 pitches.

However, deGrom’s breakthrough on the mound may have started while playing catch in the outfield on Monday

Ever since Spring Training, deGrom has noted that he has sensed himself “flying open” during his delivery, causing his fastball in particular to end up higher than its intended target spot.

After spending over a month trying to determine the root cause of the issue, deGrom reached a conclusion.

“With the flying open thing, once I played catch yesterday [Monday], I had looked at a couple things, and I was like, ‘Oh, I think this is what is causing it,’” deGrom said. “Then, to see it translated in the game was a huge plus. Now it’s just working on doing that with consistency.”

In a rare moment of self-admiration, deGrom said he felt “pretty good” about his mechanics last night.

“I’ll take a look at it tomorrow,” deGrom said. “I’m constantly trying to perfect it to get in the best positions I can get based on performance and health, so we’ll take a look and go from there”.

Taking a look at the bigger picture, deGrom has now made six starts, pitching to the tune of a 2.73 ERA with 33 strikeouts and 7 walks in 33 innings.

It’s too early to claim that deGrom is fully back to the pitcher he once was, but it’s not hard to see that he is certainly on that track.

“He’s had a couple really good games, I thought, but he was really good tonight,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said after the game.

“I said when the season started, it’s just gonna get better with him as he builds the strength and stamina up, and so yeah, really good command tonight, really good stuff, it’s just getting better with him.