Gray pitches better, but bullpen doesn’t
ARLINGTON, Texas — As Sonny Gray tries to get back into the rhythm of a normal season after missing the first month, there’s no better place for him than Texas.
Gray always has liked pitching here, and despite a few wobbles here and there Saturday, he was about as good as he’s been since the end of the 2015 season, a nice development for Oakland despite a 6-5 loss to the Rangers that sunk the A’s into last place in the AL West, a game behind Texas.
“He was good, he just ran out of pitches,” manager Bob Melvin said. “That’s what we expect, what he expects out of himself — left in a tight game with the lead.”
Gray allowed five hits in six innings, walked two and gave up two runs. He has made seven starts at Texas lifetime, and he has six wins and a 1.64 ERA. Saturday’s game was the first he’s pitched at Texas that he has not won.
“What it’s been my last couple of starts is I’m able to get to two strikes quite a bit, I just haven’t been able to put people away,” Gray said. “That’s something I have to continue to work at, and I will get better at it.”
Overall, Gray is 9-3 with a 2.55 ERA against Texas in 13 starts, his most wins against any team. And he was in line for the win when he departed.
But Ryan Dull took over in the seventh with the A’s up by two and imploded. With one out, the Rangers loaded the bases on two walks and a single.
“It just comes down to putting hitters on base. That’s really where everything’s going wrong right now,” Dull said. “I’m not being aggressive enough in the zone and letting our defense work. Maybe rushing a little, but I really don’t want to blame mechanics. It’s more lack of execution, really.”
Liam Hendriks, unscored upon in his previous nine outings, replaced Dull and gave up a two-run single to Elvis Andrus — the first hit of Andrus’ career off Hendriks in 13 at-bats. Nomar Mazara added a two-run double, the first extra-base hit by a left-handed hitter against Hendriks this season.
Dull had thrown a scoreless inning the previous night, and he has struggled in the second game of back-to-back appearances. On no days’ rest, Dull has allowed eight runs in five innings, a 14.40 ERA. “My arm feels just the same as the night before,” Dull said. “The velo might not be there, but everything else feels the same.”
“More than anything, it’s the walks, which he normally doesn’t do,” Melvin said. “He’s just a little out of sync right now, but he’ll be fine.”
Yonder Alonso got the A’s back within a run in the eighth with a solo homer, his 12th of the season and his eighth in May. He’s tied for second in the league, and he is second in RBIs with 30.
Alonso drove in Oakland’s first run with a single in the fourth off Nick Martinez. In the fifth, with runners at second and third, Matt Joyce hit a two-run single down the line in right, but the ball struck a ball girl’s stool and kicked to Mazara, who threw Joyce out after he’d rounded first too far.
“Those guys usually move their chairs,” Joyce said. “... For me, it’s at least a double, possibly a triple down in the corner.”
The Rangers scored once in the third when Joey Gallo walked, Delino DeShields singled and Andrus sent Gallo in with a base hit to left. The next inning, Robinson Chirinos led off with a single and with one out, Mike Napoli hit a bouncer to short that kicked off Adam Rosales’ foot into left, putting men at the corners, and Chirinos scored on a slow roller to third by Carlos Gomez.