On Wednesday, the Texas Rangers turned to veteran right-hander Jon Gray to secure a sweep over the slumping St. Louis Cardinals.
Gray certainly did his part, tossing a complete game and allowing just one run on four hits, while striking out 12 Cardinals hitters.
Unfortunately for Texas, their offense went quiet against Jack Flaherty.
A home run by Alec Burleson in the top of the eighth accounted for the game’s only run.
From there, the St. Louis bullpen kept Texas at bay, and Gray earned a hard-luck loss.
In doing so, he found himself on the wrong side of history, becoming just the second pitcher in Major League history to pitch a complete game while allowing one run or less on four or fewer hits while walking no one and striking out at least 12 batters and still manage to lose.
Ryan Fagan of The Sporting News pointed out this interesting fact on Twitter.
Jon Gray tonight:
9 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 12 K
His Rangers lost, 1-0. Gray got the L.
That seems amazing, right? Yeah, it is.
It's only the second time in MLB history a pitcher has had 9+ IP and 12+ K, with 4 or fewer hits, 1 R & 0 BB and got the L.
Second. Time. Ever. pic.twitter.com/x5KG5QzCQv
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) June 8, 2023
The first pitcher to accomplish this dubious feat was James Shields back in 2012.
On October 2 of that year, he threw a complete game against the Baltimore Orioles.
He struck out 15 batters in that game and allowed just one run on two hits.
However, the Tampa Bay Rays lost that game by a final score of 1-0.
And so, Gray joined some historic company, but not in the way he or the Rangers had hoped he would.
The normally stout Texas lineup was held scoreless through six innings by Flaherty before coming up empty in the final three innings against Jordan Hicks, Giovanny Gallegos, and Ryan Helsley.
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