Rockies 1 - 2 Giants
Final/13
  for this game

Rockies-Giants Preview

May 7, 2016 - 7:33 AM Jon Gray is coming off his best start of the season, but the quest for his first major league win is proving trickier than simply turning in a strong performance.

The next chance comes Saturday at AT&T Park as the Colorado Rockies try to get their touted arm a win and take a series lead against the San Francisco Giants.

Gray (0-1, 7.98 ERA), who made nine starts last season, gave up two runs and four hits in six innings of Monday's 2-1 loss in San Diego for his first decision of the season. Two starts after striking out a then career-high 10 batters against the Dodgers, the right-hander fanned 11.

"Jonny was outstanding," manager Walt Weiss told MLB's official website. "Even the runs they got in the first inning, I thought they were well-placed hits. I thought he threw the ball extremely well. It's unfortunate we couldn't get him a win. He doesn't have his first win yet, but if he pitches like that, he's going to get a lot of wins."

The No. 3 pick in the 2013 draft is 0-3 with a 6.18 ERA, 1.63 WHIP and .320 opponent batting average through his first 12 starts. It's been a rough early sample, yet there's plenty of reason to believe those numbers will level.

Gray's batting average on balls in play is .410, which is 35 points higher than the next-worst mark for a pitcher with at least 10 starts since the beginning of 2015.

It's still far too early in his career to nail down what a reasonable BABIP will be for the 23-year-old, but his mark over 56 games in the minors was .321.

No qualifying MLB starter since 2008 has had a single-season BABIP over .345, and Gray's mark is 11 points more than the next highest with a minimum of at least 50 innings pitched in data available dating to 1954.

His fielding-independent pitching also stands at 3.41. Five qualifying Rockies starters have combined for nine total seasons with a FIP under 4.00 since 1997, and they were all seasons that pretty much thrilled starting pitching-starved Rockies fans.

Ubaldo Jimenez did it three straight seasons from 2008-10 while going 46-32 with a 3.43 ERA. Jorge De La Rosa did it in '09 (16-9, 4.38) and '13 (16-6, 3.49). Jason Hammel did it from '09-10 (20-17, 4.57). Jhoulys Chacin went 14-10 with a 3.47 in '13, and Aaron Cook was 16-9 with a 3.96 in '08.

Johnny Cueto has been plenty more fortunate in his first six starts with his new club. Cueto (4-1, 3.61) gave up six runs and seven hits in five innings of Monday's 9-6 win in his return to Cincinnati and left with a no-decision.

"I tried to concentrate. I tried to see what I was missing. I tried to make better pitches," Cueto said.

He'll head back to a start in San Francisco with fewer distractions. The right-hander has alternated impressive starts with weak ones and is 4-2 with a 2.84 ERA in eight career starts against the Rockies.

The Giants (16-15) evened the series with Friday's 6-4 win after the Rockies scored 17 runs Friday. Over a 4-2 span, the Giants are batting .307 with 5.83 runs per game.

Mark Reynolds was 3 for 4 and is 7 for 13 in the last three games. The first baseman is batting .342 after failing to top .236 since 2009. Nolan Arenado was 2 for 4 and is batting .390 with five home runs and 11 RBIs in his last 10 games. The third baseman is hitting .439 with 12 homers and 33 RBIs in his last 16 against San Francisco.






Related News