Texas Rangers' Jon Gray Keeps San Francisco Giants At Bay

Nathaniel Lowe and Mitch Garver hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning to lead the Texas Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants Friday at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

The Rangers (69-47) are 3-1 on their current six-game road trip and remain 2 1/2 games ahead of the Houston Astros atop the AL West.

Starter Jon Gray (8-5) held the Giants to two hits and no walks over seven innings to earn the win.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Giants scored a run on a double turned into a triple by an error from center fielder Leody Taveras. Heliot Ramos scored on a groundout before Will Smith forced a flyout to end the game.

Splash & Mash! #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/pcOvZg8pif
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 12, 2023

Rangers 2, Giants 1

Jon Gray Regains His Groove

Lefty Jon Gray threw his best game since early June. Gray earned the win after holding the Giants to two singles and walked none in seven innings. He struck out seven. It's his first scoreless outing since July 19 against Tampa Bay. But he allowed eight hits and a walk and left after 4 1/3 innings. Friday's outing was his best overall start since he held St. Louis to one run on four hits in a complete game on June 7. He held Seattle scoreless in seven innings in the start before that on June 2.

Lowe Joins McCovey Cove Group

Nathaniel Lowe's solo homer in the sixth landed in McCovey's Cove, an area of the San Francisco Bay known as Mission Bay and called McCovey Cove for Giants great Willie McCovey.

Lowe is the fourth Rangers hitter with a McCovey Cove home run. He joins Mitch Moreland, Rougned Odor, and Shin-Soo Choo, who was the last to do it in 2020.

Statcast estimated Lowe's homer to have an exit velocity of 110.2 mph and traveled 386 feet. It's the 163rd homer to land in McCovey Cove since Oracle Park opened in 2000.

Chapman Keeps Ks Coming

Reliever Aroldis Chapman struck out three batters in the eighth. It's the fourth time in 13 appearances since joining the Rangers via trade that he's struck out three batters in an inning. Chapman walked Patrick Bailey with one out in the inning and then threw two wild pitches that put Bailey on third base. Chapman, however, struck out Mark Mathias and Luis Matos to strand the runner and preserve Texas' 2-0 lead.

Up Next

Rangers left-hander Andrew Heaney (9-6, 4.14) faces right-hander Alex Cobb (6-3, 3.30) in Game 2 at 8:05 p.m. Saturday.

You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.