Jon Gray Nearly Flawless As Rangers Defeat Dodgers

Nathaniel Lowe and Corey Seager each hit a solo home run off of former Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw.

The Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-1, on Thursday in Phoenix. Here’s a breakdown of the game.

Rangers 3, Dodgers 1

How the Rangers won: Jon Gray was exceptional, two Rangers infielders handled the offense and José Leclerc returned to the hill to get the save.

Records: Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-5; Texas, 9-11.

Winning pitcher: Jon Gray (2-0, TEX)

Losing pitcher: Clayton Kershaw (0-1, LAD)

Save: José Leclerc (1, TEX)

Rangers at the plate: The Rangers got to Kershaw with a pair of solo home runs in the second and third innings. The second-inning home run came courtesy of first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and was his second of the spring. The third-inning home run belonged to Kershaw’s former Dodgers teammate, Corey Seager, who hit his fourth of the spring.

The Rangers took a 3-0 lead in the sixth on a bases-loaded walk awarded to outfielder Bubba Thompson, which scored Adolis García.

Robbie Grossman had two hits for the Rangers and kept his spring training batting average above .400.

Rangers on the mound: Gray had a scintillating outing for the Rangers. He threw four innings of shutout baseball, giving up two hits and one walk while striking out four. He maintained his spotless ERA for the spring.

Josh Sborz, a 26-man roster bubble player with no more minor-league options, gave up a hit and a walk while striking out one in an inning of work. Dominic Leone followed with a scoreless inning of his own, as he walked one. Zack Littell followed with a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk while striking out one.

Top 30 prospect Marc Church got into some trouble in the eighth inning, giving up the Dodgers’ first run. He went 2/3 innings, giving up a hit and a walk while striking out one. Leclerc, pitching in his first "A" game since being shut down for neck stiffness, finished off the eighth without incident.

Leclerc returned in the ninth and he wrapped up the save, though it was adventurous. He loaded the bases before striking out Ryan Ward.

From the Park

Here are some tweets from Thursday's game. 

Jon Gray striking out multiple players:

Goodness Graycious. #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/8BkfTDkXet

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) March 17, 2023

Corey Seager’s home run:

Hello from the other side. 👋 pic.twitter.com/H2heEimu9p

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) March 17, 2023

Finally, Nathaniel Lowe’s home run:

Oppo Lowe 💪 pic.twitter.com/ETurlxoBs2

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) March 17, 2023

---

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and Twitter.

Need to catch up on the Rangers? Check out our Texas Rangers Offseason Central Page!

Need to get ready for Spring Training? Check out our Rangers Spring Training Tracker