MLB

Washington Nationals at Texas Rangers

· Major League Baseball
Washington Nationals
14-15, 10-7 Away
Final
1 - 7
Texas Rangers
16-14, 9-8 Home

Rangers' Jon Gray holds Nationals to 3 singles over 8 innings in a 7-1 win

Gray retired 22 of the last 23 batters he faced while allowing only three singles over eight innings, and the Rangers won 7-1 on Tuesday night to end the Nationals' four-game winning streak.

“Just trusting his stuff and he's going right at these guys,” Heim said.

“He was on top of his game,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Just was solid work throughout the game.”

Josh Smith and Leody Taveras homered for the defending World Series champion Rangers (16-14), who have won back-to-back games for only the second time since April 6.

Coming off a four-game sweep at Miami when they scored 33 runs, the Nationals (14-15) missed a chance to get over .500 for the first time since July 1, 2021.

Gray struck out three without a walk after not getting past six innings in any of his previous five starts. The right-hander threw 72 of his 98 pitches for strikes before rookie Cole Winn pitched a perfect ninth.

“It was just, being more comfortable being over the middle of the plate,” Gray said. “First four or five games, we've kind of been off the plate, on the plate, on the plate, off the plate. Just getting behind guys, not really getting deep into games. ... I just hit a point where I was kind of sick of it. I would rather give up a home run than walk a dude.”

Washington starter MacKenzie Gore (2-3) struck out seven, walked one and allowed two runs and five hits over five innings.

CJ Abrams led off the game with an infield single to extend his on-base streak to 16 games. After he scored on a two-out single by Luis García Jr., Gray retired 12 in a row until a two-out in the fifth, then set down his last 10 batters.

“He got a lot of called strikes down, the slider was really, really good," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. "Everything was down. We couldn’t do anything with it.”

The Rangers got even at 1 in the fourth after Nathaniel Lowe had an infield single with a slow high chopper over the mound on the 10th pitch he saw. He scored on a single by Heim.

They went ahead in the fifth when Marcus Semien tripled and scored on slugger Corey Seager's swinging dribbler just in front of the plate.

OTHER RUNS

Smith's second homer of the season came in the sixth. Lowe had an RBI single after Semien's double in the seventh, and Taveras hit a two-run homer to straightaway center in the eighth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Nationals: Martinez said RHP Josiah Gray (right elbow/forearm flexor strain) is progressing. He says the pitcher has increased his throwing distance to 120 feet, is working on some mechanics on the mound and doing forearm strengthening.

Rangers: RF Adolis García stayed in the game after being hit on his right hand by a 96.7 mph fastball from Gore when checking his swing in the fifth. The slugger grabbed at his hand and was in the opposite on-deck circle squatting in obvious pain when an athletic trainer and Bochy got to him. García said afterward that he was OK. ... RHP Max Scherzer (offseason back surgery) had his second scheduled rehab start scratched because of thumb soreness.

UP NEXT

Trevor Williams (2-0, 2.70 ERA) pitches for Washington in the middle game of the series Wednesday night. The Rangers go with left-hander Andrew Heaney (0-3, 6.26).

How can I watch Washington Nationals vs. Texas Rangers?
  • TV Channel: Nationals at Rangers 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.tv.
  • Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Rangers: 61.6%
Nationals: 38.4%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

9th Inning Meneses grounded out to shortstop.
9th Inning Winker flied out to right.
9th Inning Abrams grounded out to first.
9th Inning Winn relieved Gray
8th Inning Lowe flied out to center.
8th Inning Seager singled to right.

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/wsh.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originWSH https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/tex.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originTEX
1 Games Played 1
1 Team Games Played 1
0 Hit By Pitch 1
15 Ground Balls 9
3 Strikeouts 10
1 Runs Batted In 7
0 Sacrifice Hit 0
3 Hits 10
1 Stolen Bases 1
0 Walks 2
0 Catcher Interference 0
1 Runs 7
0 Ground Into Double Play 0
0 Sacrifice Flies 0
30 At Bats 36
0 Home Runs 2
0 Grand Slam Home Runs 0
4 Runners Left On Base 14
0 Triples 1
0 Game Winning RBIs 1
0 Intentional Walks 0
0 Doubles 1
12 Fly Balls 17
0 Caught Stealing 0
110 Pitches 153
0 Games Started 0
0 Pinch At Bats 1
0 Pinch Hits 0
0.0 Player Rating 0.0
1 Is Qualified 1
1 Is Qualified In Steals 1
3 Total Bases 19
30 Plate Appearances 39
0.0 Projected Home Runs 324.0
0 Extra Base Hits 4
-1.0 Runs Created 6.5
.100 Batting Average .278
.000 Pinch Hit Average .000
.100 Slugging Percentage .528
.033 Secondary Average .333
.100 On Base Percentage .333
.200 OBP Pct + SLG Pct .861
1.3 Ground To Fly Ball Ratio 0.5
-1.0 Runs Created Per 27 Outs 6.8
8.0 Batter Rating 49.5
0.0 At Bats Per Home Run 18.0
1.00 Stolen Base Percentage 1.00
3.67 Pitches Per Plate Appearance 3.92
.000 Isolated Power .250
0.00 Walk To Strikeout Ratio 0.20
.000 Walks Per Plate Appearance .051
-.067 Secondary Average Minus Batting Average .056
2.0 Runs Produced 14.0
1.0 Runs Ratio 1.0
0.1 Patience Ratio 0.6
0.1 Balls In Play Average 0.3
59.8 MLB Rating 94.0
0.0 Offensive Wins Above Replacement 0.0
0.0 Wins Above Replacement 0.0

Game Information

Globe Life Field

Location: Arlington, Texas
Attendance: 27,584 | Capacity:

2024 National League East Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Philadelphia 95 67 .586 - W1
Atlanta 89 73 .549 6 W1
New York 89 73 .549 6 L1
Washington 71 91 .438 24 L1
Miami 62 100 .383 33 W4

2024 American League West Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Houston 88 73 .547 - W2
Seattle 85 77 .525 3.5 W4
Texas 78 84 .481 10.5 W3
Oakland 69 93 .426 19.5 L3
Los Angeles 63 99 .389 25.5 L6
Full Standings