First-inning issues cap Gore's rocky first half in Texas

ARLINGTON -- The evening started as many have for the Rangers this season.

MacKenzie Gore allowed a leadoff double to Zach Neto, who scored on a single from Vaughn Grissom. The Rangers would be playing from behind. Texas has now allowed opponents to score in the first inning an MLB-high 38 times this season, including both games of this series against the Angels. Comparatively, the Rangers are 36-18 (.667) when holding opponents scoreless in the first inning.

All that to say, based on prior data, it’s no real shock that the Rangers ultimately fell, 13-1, to the Angels, who evened the three-game set at Globe Life Field.

“Today the fastball-changeup was really good, and then the curveball just got hit,” said manager Skip Schumaker. “It got hit a few times and it got hit pretty hard. The first inning is obviously the adjustment we’ve got to make -- as far as the whole staff, quite honestly -- trying to put more zeros there.

“I think MacKenzie's going to have a really good second half. I just believe in the kid and the stuff. Sometimes these big innings have haunted him. He’s got to figure out how to minimize the damage in those big innings.”

Gore allowed a season-high seven runs in five innings, and while the Rangers' offense looked like the former version of itself -- hapless and uninspiring -- the lefty put them behind early and allowed the canyon to grow incrementally until Jo Adell’s second homer of the game blew it wide open in the fifth inning.

Gore has now surrendered three home runs in his last two starts after allowing two total in his previous eight starts from May 18-June 25.

The fourth and fifth frames saw the Adell homers, which marked the 14th and 15th multi-run innings for Gore this year, with those frames accounting for 40 of his 53 earned runs allowed in 2026.

Gore has also drawn the loss in back-to-back starts, despite posting seven strikeouts compared to just one walk in each of those outings.

“For [Gore], the big inning is typically via the walk,” Schumaker said. “He didn't do that today. It was just the extra-base hit, unfortunately, and then a couple home runs. … As far as what needs to happen [differently], I think he needs to continue to throw his fastball at the top, and throw the changeup like he did today. I still think the get-ahead, stay-ahead approach is going to play. Today, it didn't work, but I do feel like that is going to play the rest of the second half. His stuff is just too good for it to go south.”

Gore, acquired by the Rangers from the Nationals in a blockbuster trade this offseason, has had a bumpy start to begin his Texas tenure. He’s had good stretches, including a 3.56 ERA in six May starts. But following his last start before the All-Star break, there’s a lot to make of Gore’s first half with the club.

“The May [version] is more McKenzie than that start tonight is,” Schumaker said.

Gore now has a 4.72 ERA in 101 innings, the fifth-worst mark among qualified pitchers this season. He’ll have sit on it through the All-Star break.

“Obviously, at the end of the day, I just gave up too many runs,” Gore said of his first half. “I thought since mid-May, in terms of just how we've thrown the ball, it's been better and it's been pretty good. We haven't been all over the place typically. In the outings that don't go as well, there's been multiple walks. Obviously, tonight I gave up homers, and I haven't done that up to this point really.

“It's been frustrating. I haven’t really been good enough. I don't think we need to panic. I think we've got to strand the runners better. I think if we do that, it'll probably look like a much better second half.”