Rockies pitcher Jon Gray delivers against the Cubs during the first inning Tuesday at Wrigley Field in Chicago. (David Banks / Getty Images)
CHICAGO — At age 26, and with 65 starts on the back of his baseball card, Jon Gray remains a work in progress. But the hard-throwing right-hander looked close to a finished product Tuesday night in the Rockies' 3-1 win over the Cubs.
Deftly mixing his fastball, curveball and recalibrated slider, Gray pitched an efficient seven innings, needing only 96 pitches. He allowed one run on three hits, struck out six and walked only one. He induced a bushel of groundballs early before striking out the Cubs later.
Gray's two bugaboos earlier this season — failure to consistently put batters away when he had two strikes on them, and opposing batters clobbering him the third time through the order — didn't haunt him Tuesday night.
Opponents had been hitting Gray at a .484 clip (with a 1.271 OPS) that third time through, but Tuesday night, only Kyle Schwarber's triple in the seventh left a mark. But Gray stranded Schwarber by striking out Victor Caratini on a high fastball and getting Jason Heyward to pop out to Tony Wolters behind home plate.
On a night that began with a 16 mph wind blowing out at Wrigley Field, Gray was immediately punished. Anthony Rizzo drove Gray's first pitch of the night — a 94 mph fastball — into the seats in left field. But then Gray settled in, getting out of the inning with two fly outs and a grounder to Nolan Arenado at third.
Then Gray cranked up his groundball machine. Utilizing primarily fastballs, he set the Cubs down in order in the second and third on six groundball outs, five of them to second baseman Daniel Castro.
Gray found trouble in the fourth. Kris Bryant led off with a single and Ben Zobrist walked. But by deftly mixing his fastball, curve and slider, Gray got out of the mess with three more groundouts.
Not long ago, the slider was Gray's put-away pitch, but it's been misbehaving much of this season. So Gray has worked overtime in his bullpen sessions, working on his grip and mechanics. It paid off in the fifth when he struck out the side, whiffing Heyward and Ian Happ with 89 mph sliders, before striking out Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks looking at a 95 mph heater.
"I think that slider is where we want it now," pitching coach Steve Foster said. "It's back to what it was in the past. Because Jon had kind of gotten away from it. But when that pitch is on, it's devastating."
"I don't care if it's the big leagues or the little leagues, when you get ahead with two strikes as a pitcher, you need to take advantage of that," Foster said. "You have to take advantage of having that edge, and Jon hasn't been doing that."
The Rockies called up Daniel Castro from Triple-A Albuquerque on Monday and sent down struggling first baseman Ryan McMahon.
Castro, 25, was hitting a sizzling .407 through 23 games with the Isotopes this year — including a current 22-game hitting streak. He played second base and hit seventh in Tuesday night's game, going 0-for-3.
Explaining his hot start at the plate in Triple-A, Castro said: "The biggest thing has been my consistency. The adjustments I've made, and with the way I'm moving my body, I'm able to recognize pitches much better."
The Guaymas, Mexico, native saw action in 80 major-league games during the 2015 and 2016 seasons with Atlanta, hitting .217 with a .515 OPS.
Manager Bud Black said Castro was called up primarily to fill a need at second base, because DJ LeMahieu is on the 10-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring. LeMahieu is eligible to return to the lineup next Tuesday.
Black also hopes that Castro can help spark a sluggish offense this is coming off an April slump that was the worst month of hitting in franchise history.
"Daniel brings us, hopefully, a base hit here and there," Black said. "He's really swung the bat well at Albuquerque and he's off to a great start."
McMahon, meanwhile, struggled in 50 at-bats, hitting .180 while striking out at a 36.7 percent clip.
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