Cole Ragans Delivers After Early Jon Gray Exit Against Astros

Texas Rangers relief pitcher Cole Ragans was impressive after being thrown into a tough situation against the Houston Astros following Jon Gray's exit Saturday.

Cole Ragans was a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy 8-2 loss on Saturday.

The second-year left-hander for the Texas Rangers threw four strong innings in relief of injured starter Jon Gray against the Houston Astros.

The Rangers (8-6)  try to win the Houston series Sunday on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. Andrew Heaney will take the mound for Texas and will face Framber Valdez. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m.

Saturday was the longest outing in Ragans’ career. Yes, he allowed five hits and two runs, but he struck out three and gave the Rangers four innings when they needed them the most.

Ragans became just the 10th player in the American League this season with a relief performance of four or more innings.

Despite the loss, the Rangers only had to use four total pitchers and that helped preserve the bullpen. That’s huge in a marathon season.

“Cole did a good job for us, gave us some much needed innings,” said manager Bruce Bochy, who was ejected from the game. “We needed some work out of him and the last thing you want to do is tear up your bullpen. He did a really nice job getting us some length to the seventh inning.”

Ragans gave up a two-run double to Yordan Alvarez in the third inning and another run in the third on a sacrifice fly. Other than that, he threw strikes and limited the damage.

Ragans had been a starter for his entire minor league career and he actually made his Major League debut in 2021 as a starter.

He appears to have found his role in the bullpen.

In six relief outings, Ragans has surrendered two earned runs in a total of nine innings.

“My goal when I went out there was to go as far as I can, fill up the zone, try to get quick outs and just eat as many innings as I possibly can,” Ragans told reporters. “Obviously it was early in the game. You don't want to burn your bullpen. We still have another game against them tomorrow, and it's not like we have an off-day or anything, so I just wanted to get outs as quick as I can and try to save the guys for tomorrow.”

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