ARLINGTON, Texas — MacKenzie Gore played catch Monday at Globe Life Field and felt really good, Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said Tuesday. The left-hander starts the series opener against the New York Mets six days after muscle spasms in his back and shoulder cut short his last outing.
Schumaker spoke on The Skip Schumaker Show, the pregame segment Rangers Sports Network posts before games. He said Texas has been setting its rotation day to day for about a week or two and has not named starters for Wednesday or Thursday.
“We’re in the day-to-day situation now,” Schumaker said. “Oh, yeah. We’ve been on that for about a week or two, actually. But we’re excited that MacKenzie Gore is throwing today. That’s the biggest news, I think, because of obviously what happened in his last start. He played catch yesterday at the stadium. Feels really good. So looking forward to watching him pitch today.”
MacKenzie Gore’s Muscle Spasms Against Boston
In the second inning Sept. 16 against the Boston Red Sox, Gore grabbed at his back after a 2-1 pitch. Schumaker, pitching coach Jordan Tiegs, and head athletic trainer Matt Lucero went to the mound, and Gore stayed in the game. He did not record an out in the fifth. Gore was charged with 3 runs on 2 hits over 4-plus innings, with 3 walks and 0 strikeouts on 69 pitches, in a 7-3 Texas win.
After that game, Schumaker said the spasms were affecting Gore’s control. He compared them to what forced Gore out after one inning at Coors Field on May 18 against the Colorado Rockies.
“He had muscle spasms that were going on kind of in the back and his shoulder area,” Schumaker said that night. “Not the actual shoulder, but underneath the shoulder. And a little bit similar to what he had in Colorado a few months ago when we pulled him. It calmed down after the second inning, and he didn’t feel anything in the third inning.”
On Saturday, Gore said the spasms were still day to day and that he believed the Rangers had figured out how to keep them from happening again, Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News reported. He played catch again Sunday before the club settled on a day for his start.
MacKenzie Gore’s Season And The Mets Matchup
Gore is 8-11 with a 4.67 ERA, a 1.35 WHIP, and 172 strikeouts. Tuesday is his American League-leading 33rd start, the most by a Rangers pitcher since Lance Lynn made 33 starts in 2019, Lone Star Ball noted. Texas acquired him from the Washington Nationals in the offseason, a year after he made the All-Star team.
In his start before Boston, on Sept. 11 at Chase Field, Gore allowed 4 runs on 5 hits over 4-plus innings with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts in a 9-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. All 4 runs came in the fourth inning.
Left-hander Sean Manaea starts for New York at 7:05 p.m. CT. Texas (78-78) leads the Houston Astros by one game in the American League West with six games left, though Houston holds the tiebreaker.
