ARLINGTON, Texas — Jon Gray took the mound again Monday night, and the Rangers again held their breath.
The right-hander has already been on the injured list twice this season and was only a week removed from leaving his start at Yankee Stadium after 4 ⅓ innings with his left knee not feeling quite right.
His task at Globe Life Field wasn’t just shutting down the Angels in the opener of a three-game series. He needed to stay healthy while building up to the 80-pitch range.
Gray was the Opening Day starter and signed to be the staff ace. He can’t do that while constantly battling injury. That explains the Rangers uneasiness Monday.
They will probably feel that way going forward, but perhaps less so after Gray pitched into the sixth inning, logged 88 pitches and exited without any visible issues in the knee.
Gray allowed four runs and struck out eight in 5 ⅔ innings and exited with a 6-4 lead.
Gray allowed four runs and struck out eight in 5 ⅔ innings, and earned his first win with the Rangers as they used a big first inning to beat the Angels 7-4.
“It’s just a matter of getting the pitch count up,” manager Chris Woodward said. “He’s fine. The knee really hasn’t bothered him at all. … I’m really trying to push him to get to that full pitch count at some point.”
The Rangers scored six times in the first inning and chased Angels starter Noah Syndergaard, who starred in high school at Mansfield Legacy. Eli White opened with a single and capped the rally with a two-out, two-run hit as the Rangers sent 11 batters to the plate.
Syndergaard threw 42 pitches and recorded only two outs. He threw 11 pitches alone to Marcus Semien, who drew a walk after White’s leadoff hit.
The rally seemed to spark Gray, though signs last week pointed to him making it through his outing.
All went well in the days that followed his early exit May 9. He had no next-day pain, unlike the original knee injury, and was running down flyballs in the outfield during batting practice two days later.
But the Rangers still gave him an extra day’s rest, about as much time as they could allow during a stretch of games on 15 consecutive days. He will continue to wear a bulky knee brace.
If Gray can keep pitching on turn, the Rangers could have an effective 1-2 punch with him and left-hander Martin Perez. Perez has logged five consecutive quality starts, two short of the club record.
