With title hopes on the line, Gray chased after two innings
With the pressure to win a divisional title amped up by a Dodgers win earlier in the day, the Rockies’ Jon Gray wilted in another big game.
Washington chased the Colorado righthander from Saturday night’s game after two innings, scoring five earned runs on seven hits while getting Gray out of rhythm — as he’s often been over the past monthplus.
Things got off to an ominous start when the first batter of the game, Adam Eaton, ripped a 100.3 mph line drive back at Gray. The ball hit Gray in the back before bouncing into the outfield for a single.
From there, a Trea Turner single was followed by a Juan Soto double to left that scorched passed a diving David Dahl. Soto’s hit plated two and ballooned Gray’s firstinning ERA this season to 5.91.
Gray fared worse in the second inning. Wilmer Difo led off with a bunt single. Then Eaton singled him home two batters later, and Turner proceeded to blast a tworun home run to left to make it 50 Nationals.
The damage happened so fast that manager Bud Black had to scramble to the dugout phone to ring the bullpen. Chad Bettis immediately began warming up after Gray’s missed catch at first base on a Bryce Harper grounder resulted in an error.
In all, it was a disastrous start that mirrored last season’s wildcard game in Arizona, where the Diamondbacks got to Gray for four runs on seven hits in 1L innings. Just like in that pressurized environment, Gray’s location was lackluster Saturday, despite saying on Friday that he felt no nerves heading into his biggest start of this season.
“This season was a tough one for me, but I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me,” Gray said. “I see this game as an opportunity (to bounce back). … I haven’t got to help this team as much as I wanted, and tomorrow is a good op
portunity to do that.”
Prior to Saturday, Gray had a 5.23 ERA in his eight previous starts dating back to Aug. 16, and had surrendered a dozen homers in that time frame.
Yet as Black indicated pregame, Gray showed promise of regaining his effective form in his last start, a seveninning, onerun performance against Philadelphia earlier this week.
“I’d like to see the repeated delivery that he brought in his last
start — more uptempo and an aggressive, building delivery,” Black said. “He’s done that a couple times in the bullpen since his last start, so I’d like to see that. That will help him make pitches with his release point, his arm slot.”
None of those positive details were on display Saturday as Black lifted Gray for pinchhitter Raimel Tapia in the bottom of the second, with the Rockies trailing 51. Bettis came on to pitch in the third.