Colorado Rockies top prospect Jon Gray allowed three runs -- two earned -- in four innings in his major league debut on Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners at Coors Field.
Gray threw three pitches at 96-plus mph to the first batter of the game, Austin Jackson, who lined out to end his at-bat. Gray then issued a walk -- one of the two he allowed -- before striking out Nelson Cruz for the second out of the inning. Unfortunately, the 24-year-old right-hander was unable to get out of the first unscathed, allowing back-to-back hits to Robinson Cano and Jesus Montero and falling into a 2-0 hole in the process.
In the second inning, Gray bounced back well, striking out a batter and inducing a pair of ground outs. He didn't allow another run until the fourth, when a throwing error by Jose Reyes on a play that should've resulted in a double play ended up hurting the Rockies. Gray gave up a two-out hit to pitcher Vidal Nuno, who snapped an 0-for-52 slump at the plate by Seattle hurlers, to extend the Mariners' lead to 3-1.
Nick Hundley hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to take Gray off the hook.
Gray surrendered five hits and two walks while striking out four batters. He threw 77 pitches, 43 of which went for strikes. The low pitch count came as somewhat of a surprise; Rockies manager Walt Weiss said on Monday that he planned to be extra cautious with Gray but only cited an innings limit of "30-35" for the remainder of the season.
Here's video of Gray's first career strikeout. Not a bad guy to get: