'Unbelievable' throw from Ornelas caps stellar outing from Gray

ARLINGTON -- The Rangers’ dugout went wild as Jon Gray recorded the second out of the eighth inning Tuesday night. But they weren’t cheering for Gray.

In fact, Gray raised his hands and clapped as he walked off the mound, cheering for Rangers rookie infielder Jonathan Ornelas, who perhaps made the play of the season for Texas.

The ball off the bat of Tommy Pham seemingly skipped through the 6-5 hole. But Ornelas made a snazzy backhand grab before jumping and firing across his body to throw to first base. It reached Nathaniel Lowe comfortably for the second out of the eighth, capping off Gray’s stellar night on a high note.

The Rangers ultimately defeated the White Sox, 3-2, on Tuesday night at Globe Life Field, securing at least a split of the four-game set.

“That was unbelievable,” Gray said. “It really shocked me like, I don't know, I just thought that there was no chance of that one but you know, I watched him beat the guy to the bag. It was pretty insane. Very nice. It really fired me up.”

Texas' offense was stifled for much of the night by Chicago ace Garrett Crochet, scoring just two runs in the first inning off the young lefty. But Gray kept things in check all night long, completing his best start in months.

“When he’s dealing -- well when any guy is dealing -- he's locked in, so I had to be locked in every pitch to make sure that I was making plays behind him and it was just awesome to watch him,” Ornelas said of Gray. “He's throwing the baseball really well. And when you have guys like that, guys that are dealing, it's just so fun to play defense behind them, because you always know that he's gonna be around the zone and attack the zone. It's just awesome.”

It was as big of a start as possible for Gray, who has faltered after a hot start this season. Across his first 11 games (10 starts), the right-hander posted a 2.21 ERA. he had a brief stint on the injured list with a right groin strain from May 23-June 8, and across those eight games (six starts) afterwards, he had a 7.36 ERA.

Gray hadn’t gone into the seventh inning since May 5 against the Royals. He’d only gone into the eighth once, on April 30 against the Nationals. But on Tuesday, he secured the win with 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts and no walks.

The lone run he allowed came on an Andrew Vaughn RBI single in the third inning. After that, he did not allow another baserunner, retiring the final 15 batters he faced, capped off with Ornelas’ play in the eighth.

“It felt really good,” Gray said. “It's been a long time since I felt that. I have been searching for that for a while, so it does feel really good. I think it's something that's going to continue to get better. I really do. Towards the end again, we were working really well. I'm just gonna keep that going.”

Gray’s 78.8% strike percentage (80 pitches/63 strikes) was the highest mark of his season and the second-highest of his career (86.7% on Sept. 12, 2022 at Miami). He recorded career strikeout number 1,200 when he fanned Paul DeJong in the second inning, becoming the 31st active pitcher with 1,200 punchouts.

In all, it was one of the most efficient and effective outings of Gray’s season. And it came off a spontaneous relief outing against the Orioles on July 19. It was Gray’s third relief appearance of the season, which is something manager Bruce Bochy has shown to like for him occasionally.

“Sometimes a guy needs a reset, especially if he gets in a little bit of a rut,” Bochy said. “He got that and went out there and that was what he did tonight. He went out there with a sense of determination. And what a job he did, huh? He went deep in the game, just a terrific job. Good stuff, commanded fastball and slider. He gave us what we needed because the bullpen had been used a lot. It's good to see Jonny go out there and pitch the way we know he can.”