Gray hit hard again: 'Some of the ones I threw, I would’ve hit out' 

BALTIMORE -- The Rangers’ slumping offense might soon receive a jolt, if it’s determined Josh Jung’s surgically-repaired right wrist is improved enough to return to the lineup. Those decisions are forthcoming, expected to come after Jung tests the wrist in the batting cage at some point this weekend.

But in the meantime, no amount of offensive reinforcements could be expected to lift the Rangers out of the hole they found themselves in Thursday night.

Jon Gray suffered one of the worst outings of his career for the second time in three starts as the Rangers dropped the first game of this weekend’s 2023 ALDS rematch, 11-2, to the Orioles at Camden Yards. Baltimore pounded Gray for eight earned runs over five innings to send the Rangers to their seventh straight road loss and 17th in their last 21 games away from Globe Life Field.

“The ball felt slippery at one of my fingers on every pitch,” Gray said. “I didn’t make an adjustment. I didn’t really know the right adjustment to make. I tried to stay back a little longer, focus a little harder. But I just didn’t know where it was going. It didn’t feel good out of the hand.”

Lining up opposite Baltimore ace Corbin Burnes, Gray ran into trouble immediately. He allowed two-out hits to Heston Kjerstad and Jordan Westburg that resulted in three first-inning runs, and coughed up a two-run homer to Kjerstad in the third. Cedric Mullins cranked a two-run shot an inning later off Gray, while the Rangers mustered little in response off Burnes aside from a solo homer from Adolis García.

“They put the bat on the ball, but some of the ones I threw, I would’ve hit out myself,” Gray said. “I’ll fix some of the stuff I’m doing. I don’t know if it’s more of a feel thing or more of a delivery thing. But we’ll get to the bottom of it.”

This is the second time Gray allowed at least eight earned runs in a start this month, and it came 10 days after he allowed a career-high nine earned amid pitch-tipping concerns in his June 17 start against the Mets. Gray said pitch-tipping wasn’t a concern on Thursday.

“That was something [the Mets] had,” he said. “Today, [the ball] was just spraying everywhere. Those weren’t good pitches. Not good movement. The slider turned into a cutter tonight. It was just terrible all around.”

Prior to that start against New York, Gray hadn’t allowed eight or more runs in a start since Aug. 10, 2020, which came at Coors Field. This rough patch comes on the heels of one of the best stretches of Gray’s career. Outside of the two blowup starts this month, Gray has a 1.98 ERA (15 ER, 68 1/3 IP) across his other 14 outings.

But he allowed 17 runs in these other two. Gray had given up 10 total earned runs in his 10 previous starts before the Mets' outing. His ERA has jumped from 2.17 to 3.77 in the three starts since.

“I know how good I am,” Gray said. “It drives you crazy, when you feel as good as you can and then the next week it feels so different and strange. That’s one of the love-hate things I have with baseball. But there is only one way to get back on top, so that’s what we’re going to do.”

Exactly midway through the season, Thursday’s loss in Game No. 81 dropped Texas to six games under .500 at 37-43. They were 17 games over .500 (49-32) at this point in 2023 -- an 11 1/2 game swing.

Thursday was the first meeting between Texas and Baltimore since the Rangers swept the Orioles last October en route to the World Series crown, and it came a day after club GM Chris Young declared publicly that “it’s time” for the defending champs to start turning this thing around.

“I think we’re going to remember,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said before the game. “That feeling sat with us for a long time, and they played great against us and they really swung the bat well and they did all the way through until the end of it. It’s pretty much the same team, pretty much the same lineup we’re going to see. Those three losses stayed with us for a while.”