Injury Bug Strikes Again as Rangers Lose Jon Gray to 15-Day IL With Right Groin Strain
The Texas Rangers’ injury crisis is getting out of hand as another key arm heads to the injured list.
Right-handed starter Jon Gray is the latest Ranger to fall victim to the injury bug, with the 32-year-old landing on the 15-day IL due to a right groin strain – retroactive to Wednesday.
Fellow righty Jesus Tinoco was promoted from Triple-A Round Rock to fill Gray’s spot, adding a multi-inning reliever to the Rangers’ bullpen. Cody Bradford, another injured starter, was transferred to the 60-day IL to create space on the team’s 40-man roster.
Gray left Tuesday’s series opener against the Phillies after throwing just 75 pitches, with manager Bruce Bochy revealing post-game that he was experiencing right groin tightness. The veteran righty allowed two runs on four hits and three walks while striking out four before departing.
A few days later, the 6-foot-4 hurler is now on the shelf with an ailment suffered in his most recent start. However, the club doesn’t believe his IL stint will last beyond a few weeks.
It’s another significant blow for Texas, especially considering Gray has arguably been their best pitcher this season, pitching to a career-best 2.21 ERA with 56 strikeouts while surrendering only 17 walks over 57 innings in 11 games (10 starts). He has already equalled last season’s fWAR rating of 1.8.
The Shawnee, Oklahoma, native joins a talented Rangers IL rotation that includes Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Tyler Mahle and Max Scherzer. But they’re also without two impact position players, starting third baseman Josh Jung and rookie sensation Wyatt Langford.
All these absences may be catching up to Texas, who find themselves five games below .500 at 24-29, having lost 8 of their last 10 contests.
“The only way I know to get through this and handle what’s been going on is to power through it,” Bochy told reporters post-game Thursday, including MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry. “That’s how we have to approach it, you know, because what else are you gonna do? You can talk about the injuries or not scoring runs, whatever. Man, you gotta just toughen up and keep pushing. That’s what we talked about briefly yesterday.”
Though Dane Dunning returned from injury earlier this week, losing Gray means the Rangers are down to only four starting pitchers. José Ureña and Michael Lorenzen will start versus the Minnesota Twins this weekend, while Dane Dunning and Andrew Heaney are lined up to face the Arizona Diamondbacks next week.
But that leaves Sunday’s finale against the Twins up for grabs. Unless the club calls up someone from the minors, they’ll likely need to turn to a bullpen day, with nine relievers currently occupying the ‘pen.
Rookie right-hander Jack Leiter could’ve been a potential option had he not started for Round Rock on Wednesday. The highly-touted youngster has struggled in his brief big-league career thus far, posting an inflated 16.39 ERA with six walks and three home runs allowed in three starts.
Even with all these injuries, the Rangers have kept their heads above water, as they’re second in the AL West and three games behind the division-leading Seattle Mariners.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Jack Gray. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.