Gray K's 6, but 3 HRs lead to 'bitter ending'

WASHINGTON -- Add a three-hour, 12-minute rain delay to Josiah Gray’s list of firsts in his young Major League career.

Gray’s third start with the Nats (and fifth in the bigs) was put on hold as rain poured down over Nationals Park on Friday night before their 4-2 series-opener loss against the Braves. Once the weather cleared, the 23-year-old right-hander took the mound at 10:17 p.m. for his longest outing since making his MLB debut on July 20 as a member of the Dodgers.

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“I felt like my stuff was really playing,” Gray said. “I was getting ahead of batters. A little bitter ending at the end, but I felt great throughout that outing. Given the circumstances with the rain delay as well, I thought I couldn’t have done much different.”

Gray threw six-plus innings, allowing five hits, three runs and no walks while striking out six over 87 pitches (59 strikes). The Braves did their damage against him with a trio of solo home runs from Travis d’Arnaud, Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. All five runs Gray has allowed with the Nationals to date have come from solo homers.

“The pitches that aren’t located are going to get hit hard, and most of the time, they’re home runs right now,” Gray said. “Obviously, it’s frustrating to have to deal with that every outing so far. But it’s just something you learn with, that’s something you grow with as a baseball player. So that’s something that I’m looking forward to getting over the hump with and learning from that.”

The dingers, though, don’t tell the story of Gray’s entire performance. He opened the game with a 1-2-3 first inning that included strikeouts of Albies and Freddie Freeman. His most efficient frame came in the fourth, when he retired the side of Jorge Soler, Freeman and Riley on just seven pitches. Gray yielded eight whiffs with his fastball, which reached a Major League career-best 96.9 mph.

“I like how poised he is, I really do,” manager Dave Martinez said. “He showed some emotion today. He’s been one of those quiet guys just going out there doing his job. He gave up the first home run, he wasn’t happy about it -- and I kind of like that from him. He got back out there and kept pounding the strike zone, so it was good to see.”

The Braves are quickly becoming familiar to Gray, who is new to the NL East. He also faced them in his last start, when he recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts over five innings in a 3-2 win last Saturday in Atlanta.

“As you start knowing hitters, you’ll know what pitches to really hone in on and what they like,” Martinez said. “He’ll get another shot at these guys, and he’ll know which pitches to stay away from.”

The Nationals acquired Gray as one of the centerpieces of the megadeal that sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers at the Trade Deadline on July 30. He is 0-1 with a 2.81 ERA and 18 strikeouts to four walks over 16 innings in his first three starts with Washington.

“He battled,” Martinez said. “He gave up three solo homers, but I thought he threw the ball really well. Every time he goes out there, he’s giving us an opportunity to win the ballgame, and that’s awesome.”