3 Reasons for MacKenzie Gore's 1st Half Struggles With the Rangers

The All-Star break is quickly approaching, and the Texas Rangers find themselves at .500 with a 46-46 record and in the midst of a tight American League West race.

On Wednesday, the Rangers suffered a brutal 13-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, who hold the league's worst record. One of the biggest takeaways from that game was MacKenzie Gore's woeful outing.

The lefty allowed seven runs on nine hits through five innings. Gore's ERA (4.72) is the fifth-worst among qualified starting pitchers. It's been a challenging first half of the season for Gore, and here are three reasons to point to his struggles.

Struggles With Command

Texas Rangers starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore pitches. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

There is no doubt Gore has an elite arsenal of pitches. He is capable of accumulating high strikeout numbers with his fastball, changeup, and deadly curveball. Gore's 111 strikeouts rank inside the top 20 among all pitchers.

However, Gore can also struggle to locate those pitches, which hinders his ability to go deep into games. He's only pitched one game this season without issuing a walk. While the free passes have gone down in recent starts, he still finds himself in fewer advantageous counts.

Gore consistently falls behind and gets beaten for it. While Gore can bedazzle you with his stuff, the location can be the tricky part, and it's cost him this year.

The Long Inning

Gore has had multiple long innings this season. The Angels quickly got to him in the first inning, putting up a run on a Vaughn Grissom double and making Gore throw 20 pitches. Trouble caught up to him again in the fourth and fifth innings.

Gore threw 18 pitches in the fourth and allowed two runs on four hits. It went from bad to worse, as the lefty allowed three hits, four runs, and a walk in the fifth, bringing his pitch count up to 90.

That's been the biggest issue with Gore. The Angels were aggressive early in the count, but there have been too many instances where he can't put away a hitter, which results in long innings. He can struggle with in-game adjustments and the crooked numbers eat away at Gore.

Troubles on the Road

Texas Rangers pitcher MacKenzie Gore (1) throws to the plate. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While Gore also struggled in front of the home crowd on Wednesday, the road troubles have been apparent. The 27-year-old has a 5.81 ERA with a .260 opposing batting average and 28 walks. There is a clear issue when he's pitching away from home.

Gore hasn't pitched a scoreless outing since May 29th. While he's posted some quality outings since then, they still come at the cost of a run or two. The results have to be better. The Rangers took a big swing on Gore this offseason to be a solid third option in the starting rotation.

The stuff is there for him to be an elite pitcher, as demonstrated by his All-Star nod last season. For some reason, it hasn't quite clicked yet with Texas, but the Rangers will need him to improve if a playoff run is in the cards for 2026.

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