ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas right-hander Jon Gray got into quite a groove after allowing an early run. He just kept throwing strikes and retiring batters.
Gray pitched into the eighth inning while getting out the last 15 batters he faced as the Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Tuesday night.
''It's been a long time since I felt that,'' Gray said. ''I've been searching for that for a while. It does feel really good, and I think it's something that's going to continue to get better. I really do.''
Gray (5-4) struck out five and walked none while throwing 63 of his 80 pitches for strikes in his 7 2/3 innings. It was the deepest he had been in a game since April 30, and came four days after he threw a scoreless inning in relief against Baltimore. He had two starts the second half of June when he gave up at least eight runs.
''Sometimes a guy needs a reset ... and maybe just needs a break,'' manager Bruce Bochy said. ''It worked out well for him, somewhat of a break, just freshen the arm up a little bit. He just went out there with a sense of determination that you like.''
After Andrew Vaughn's RBI single with two outs in the third inning, the White Sox didn't get another batter on base against Gray. The last was pinch-hitter Tommy Pham for the second out of the eighth, when shortstop Jonathan Ornelas made a backhanded stop and was falling away from first base when he made a incredible throw.
''That was unbelievable. It really shocked me. I just thought that there was no chance at that one,'' Gray said. ''Really fired me up.''
The White Sox (27-76) have lost nine games in a row and 15 of 18. They are only the 12th team in MLB history with 76 losses in their first 103 games, and the first since the 1979 Oakland Athletics.
