May 21, 2022 - Game 39
W- Justin Verlander (6-1)
L- Jon Gray (1-2)
S - Pressly (5)
HR: None
Time of Game: 2:52
Game Recap
The Rangers looked to build momentum from Friday’s emotional win in Houston. They sent Jon Gray to the mound coming off an excellent finish to a start Monday against the Angels. The Astros sent their ace, Justin Verlander, to the hill coming off two straight scoreless outings against the Nationals and Twins. The last time Verlander pitched against the Rangers, he threw a seven-inning and one run outing on April 28th at Globe Life Field.
The night started weirdly with two straight baserunners to begin the game in the first. Adolis García shot a single to the right fielder Kyle Tucker who threw a strike to Jason Castro. Then, chaos happened as home plate umpire Paul Emmel ruled there was elbow to elbow contact and called Brad Miller safe. The Astros challenged the play, and the call was overturned, but Chris Woodward challenged the home plate violation where Castro didn’t give Miller a lane. The call of no violation stood. Texas lost their challenge, and Houston took a 1-0 lead.
In the fifth inning, the Astros added another run on a Jon Gray wild pitch scoring Jason Castro, who led the inning off with a double and moved to third. On Saturday, both teams had a baserunner in every half-inning except the fourth inning (for both sides). Texas went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position, while Houston went 1 for 10. "Had him on the ropes early on, but couldn't punch it through," Woodward said. "Overall, Verlander is good, he's the ageless wonder. He executes and throws all his pitches."
In the eighth inning, the Rangers cracked the scoreboard with a single by Adolis García to right field, scoring Corey Seager. However, García tried to steal third with Kole Calhoun at the plate and one out. Third base umpire Pat Hoberg called Adolis out, and replay was confirmed. Calhoun struck out, and the Rangers couldn’t even the game. "I loved [Adolis] being aggressive," Woodward said. "Now it's something to talk about he has to have a bigger primary lead to make sure he's sage. The time was right, pitcher time is slow, [Adolis] just has to have a bigger primary. I preach being aggressive, so I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't believe in that." Texas made things intriguing in the ninth as Nathaniel Lowe singled and Sam Huff hooked a slider from Ryan Pressly foul, but Huff struck out.
Jon Gray had a good night on Saturday. He walked two and allowed six hits but yielded only two runs while striking out four. "[Jon] was decent," Woodward said. "He was fighting execution a little bit , but the stuff was there and kept the guys off balance." The wild pitch hurt, but the Astros didn’t get exceptionally hard contact all night. Dennis Santana and Brett Martin came into the seventh and eighth, and each pitched scoreless frames without allowing a baserunner Saturday. Unfortunately, the offense could only muster one run as Texas fell 2-1.
Postgame Notes
Jon Gray hit the ninety pitch mark for the first time since September 14th, 2021, against the Braves. His ninety-four was the most since August 22nd of last season against Arizona.
Marcus Semien is six for his last fifteen at-bats.
Kole Calhoun is riding a five-game hitting streak with a sixth-inning single.
In the seven-game season series, thirty-eight runs have scored between the Rangers and Astros.
Jon Gray went six full innings for the first time since August 4th against the Cubs.
With Dennis Santana’s scoreless seventh, it makes eleven of the fourteen outings for Santana without allowing an earned run. In Santana’s ten one or more inning outings, he hasn’t allowed an earned run in seven of them.
The Astros used Hector Neris for the fourth time against Texas in 2022. Before 2022, Neris pitched 0.2 in his career against the Rangers (one outing in 2017). The run allowed in the eighth is the first run Neris allowed against Texas.
Justin Verlander picked up his twentieth career pitching win against Texas. It’s the most against a non-AL Central team.
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