SAN FRANCISCO — Jon Gray bounded to the mound Saturday, his long hair bouncing behind him like a cape. The 24-year-old rookie right-hander, after stringing together two excellent outings in a row, looks like he belongs.
He just can’t win. Or rather, the Rockies can’t win behind him.
“I’m not too worried about this whole win thing,” Gray said. “I just want to throw up zeroes for my team and give us a chance to get a win.”
In his past 12 innings, Gray has faced just three more batters than the minimum. After a two-run first inning against the Padres at San Diego last week, he got 14 of the next 15 batters out.
On Saturday, Gray threw seven one-hit innings against San Francisco. He walked two, but he forced Hunter Pence into a double play.
Both games ended in a Rockies loss, both by 2-1 scores. Gray earned a loss against the Padres and got a no-decision against the Giants.
Gray is now 0-3 in 13 career starts.
“He has a good outlook on things,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “The fact that he doesn’t have a win yet is very deceiving. I’m sure people are making a big deal about it. He’ll be in position to win a lot of games.”
In six career road starts, Gray has an impressive 2.18 ERA and an 0-2 record. At Coors Field, he’s 0-1 with a 9.20 ERA.
But Gray is rounding into form. Against the Giants, he threw a three-pitch mix of 95 mph fastballs, sliders and curveballs. He ramped up to strike out Joe Panik in the sixth with 96 mph heat. Gray fooled Buster Posey with a strikeout slider in the fourth.
“We knew right away we were going to show everything,” Gray said. “We weren’t going to wait the second, third time up to show a slider or a curveball. I wanted to mix speeds the whole time. It looked like they had no idea what was going to be pitched.”
Gray bested Giants veteran Johnny Cueto in numbers (Cueto gave up eight hits and struck out three).
Gray is now 0-1 and trimmed his ERA by more than two points, to 5.40.
“I’m just glad I can be the guy my teammates want up there, that we have a chance to win,” Gray said. “I’m really proud about that.”
Footnote
Nolan Arenado, who walked three times Saturday, tied his career high for a game. He now has 14 walks this season. Last year, he didn’t draw his 14th walk until the second week of July.
Nick Groke, The Denver Post
Rockies RHP Eddie Butler (0-1, 6.75 ERA) at Giants RHP Jeff Samardzija (4-1, 3.32)
When: 2 p.m. Sunday
TV/Radio: ROOT; 850 AM
His numbers are on the crooked side, but in one start and one relief appearance since his call-up from Triple-A, Butler appears more at home than during his two call-ups, in 2014 and 2015. He’s throwing strikes — an overly simplistic thing to say about a pitcher, but that was his problem. Maybe it sank in, because Butler is attacking the zone. Against San Diego last week, he allowed just two runs in five innings. But he allowed three more in the sixth inning. Butler’s next step is to finish off his innings. In his career, he has allowed more runs with a two-strike count (170) than with no strikes (115).
Monday: Diamondbacks RHP Rubby De La Rosa (3-4, 4.60 ERA) at Rockies RHP Tyler Chatwood (4-2, 2.15), 6:40 p.m., ROOT
Tuesday: Diamondbacks LHP Robbie Ray (1-2, 4.70) at Rockies LHP Chris Rusin (1-0, 4.43), 6:40 p.m., ROOT
Wednesday: Diamondbacks RHP Zack Greinke (3-2) at Rockies RHP Chad Bettis (3-2, 4.40), 1:10 p.m.
