Advertisement
This is member-exclusive content
icon/ui/info filled

sportsRangers

Final thoughts from Rangers win vs. Nationals: Jon Gray dominates, team confidence growing

Gray challenged Washington hitters with his fastball to get ahead and then forced them to try to find his darting slider. The result: The best start by a Rangers pitcher this year.

ARLINGTON — Jon Gray is an introspective man, deliberate and thoughtful.

On the mound, that can occasionally be a hindrance. Too much time pondering sequences. Too much effort trying to create swings and misses. Too many wasted pitches. Sometimes, it just makes sense to attack. When he does, he can be dominant. Like he was Tuesday.

Gray challenged Washington hitters with his fastball to get ahead and then forced them to try to find his darting slider. The result: The best start by a Rangers pitcher this year. He went eight innings and allowed just three hits and no walks in the Rangers’ 7-1 win. It took him only 98 pitches. He threw 72 strikes (73.4%), nearly 20% higher than his season average.

Rangers

Be the smartest Rangers fan. Get the latest news.

Or with:

A vast difference from his last start in which Seattle spoiled pitch after pitch with fouls, driving up his pitch count and forcing him out after just 4.2 innings, despite having allowed only a run. In four of his first five starts this season, he’d pitched five or fewer innings, mostly due to averaging nearly 19 pitches per inning.

“I was just being more comfortable being over the plate, really,” Gray said. “I had been getting behind guys and not being able to go deep into games to the point where I was just kind of sick of it. I was ready to just go after the heart of the plate. It had gotten to the point where I almost would have rather given up a home run than a walk. So I thought we’d fill [the strike zone] up and see what happens. We definitely got away with some stuff tonight, but the room for error is so much larger when you are constantly ahead.”

Advertisement

Gray allowed a pair of singles in the first inning to account for Washington’s only run. He then retired 12 straight before an infield single by Trey Lipscomb. Then he retired the seven of the final eight batters he faced. Average exit velocity on the three hits — all singles — he gave up: 71.7 miles per hour. Only one of the hits left the infield.

He’s got some wicked stuff, man. When he simply lets it play, he can be nasty.

Here are some other VERY IMPORTANT final thoughts as April comes to a close:

Advertisement

Best news: Adolis García seemed to be OK despite a scary hit by pitch in the fifth inning. On a check swing, García took a 96 mile-per-hour fastball from MacKenzie Gore off his right palm. He immediately released the bat, evoking memories of the way Josh Jung dropped it when his wrist was shattered in Tampa Bay, and backed away to the visitor’s on deck circle, where he crouched in pain. But, after athletic trainer Matt Lucero looked at him and tested his grip, García stayed in the game and still took another at-bat. He said after the game that the pitch hit him in the fleshy part of his palm. Another inch or two lower and it’s on the wrist and TROUBLE.

Best finish: Cole Winn retired all three batters he faced. He’s retired 15 straight batters and has yet to allow a hit in seven innings as a major leaguer. It’s a remarkable turnaround for a guy who probably began the season closer to getting designated for assignment to make space on the roster than to a role in the bullpen. But here we are.

Texas Rangers' Cole Winn throws to the Washington Nationals in the ninth inning of a...
Texas Rangers' Cole Winn throws to the Washington Nationals in the ninth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)(Tony Gutierrez / ASSOCIATED PRESS)

“I think confidence is a big part of it,” general manager Chris Young said. “I think that success breeds confidence. He’s got a simplified approach. And just speaking very truthfully, from my own previous experiences, it’s very easy to concentrate at this level. It’s very easy to have an elite focus when you’re playing in front of 40,000 fans versus when you’re playing in front of 5000 fans. It’s a different environment and different environments can bring out the best in people. I think that’s what we’re seeing.”

Best payback: Against Cincinnati, Nathaniel Lowe grinded through a 12-pitch at-bat, the kind of battle from which you’d think there would be some kind of reward, only to bounce into a double play. On Tuesday, baseball paid him back, when in a very unfavorable matchup against hard-throwing MacKenzie Gore, he fought his way through nine pitches before bouncing a 96.5 mile-per-hour fastball to the left side. Then he beat the throw to first for an infield single that started the Rangers run-scoring fourth-inning rally. Ball left the bat at 68.7 miles per hour. Baseball is a funny game some times.

Best defense: Marcus Semien does two things really, really well that often get overlooked. He posts up every day, never taking a day off. And he plays airtight defense. Semien played his 324th consecutive game for the Rangers on Tuesday, which puts him one shy of the third longest streak in club history (Ruben Sierra from 1988-90). In addition to a double and a triple, both of which led to him scoring runs, he ranged easily to his left to field C.J. Abrams hard bouncer to start the seventh, then bounced up and threw him out.

Semien began the day tied for second in the majors in Defensive Runs Saved at any position with seven. He just does not make mistakes at the position.

Best promotion: Everybody pitched well on Tuesday, even the guy tossing giant french fries in the Whataburger Flingin’ Fries promotion. He was draining fries from all over the place, filling up the bucket better than your typical Whataburger does. Then, on the big red money fry, the one that could earn him Whataburger for a year, he seamlessly put it in the middle of the container. That’s free Whataburger for a year, cardiologists fees not included.

Advertisement
Related Stories
View More

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.