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DENVER — The Colorado Rockies will be riding an impressive winning streak behind Jon Gray when the right-hander starts Wednesday against the San Diego Padres.Gray (9-7 http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-robin-ventura-jersey , 4.76 ERA) will be opposed by right-hander Jacob Nix (1-1, 6.75), who joined the Padres on Aug. 10 and will be making his third career start.The Rockies have won Gray’s past eight starts, dating from June 22. During that streak, which is tied for the second longest in franchise history, Gray is 3-0 with a 3.04 ERA, 11 walks and 57 strikeouts in 53 1/3 innings. Opponents have batted .214 with a .624 OPS against Gray during that stretch.Article continues below ...Six of those eight wins have come since Gray was recalled on July 14 from Triple-A Albuquerque, where he made two starts after being optioned June 30. Since being recalled, Gray has gone 2-0 with a 2.55 ERA in six starts.Asked what has been at the root of Gray’s surge, Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta said, “I think his ability to throw strikes with all of his pitches. He’s really throwing a lot of strikes with that slider, throwing a lot of strikes with the fastball, challenging guys. Not necessarily trying to get contact, but he’s pitching in the zone a lot more, and I think that’s been the biggest difference is just having that mentality of, ‘Here it is Early Wynn Jersey , hit it. This is my best stuff. If you beat me, you beat me. If not, I’m probably going to have a lot of success with what I have.’ “Gray has had three straight no-decisions, the last one coming at Atlanta on Thursday when he allowed five hits and three runs in seven innings with one walk and nine strikeouts in Colorado’s 5-3 win.He’s 6-3 with a 2.65 ERA in 13 starts against the Padres with 13 walks and 106 strikeouts in 78 innings. Gray is 2-1 with a 3.50 ERA in three starts against San Diego this season with two walks and 24 strikeouts in 18 innings.The Rockies’ four-game winning streak ended Tuesday when they lost for just the second time in 10 games and fell 4-3 to the Padres (50-78). The Rockies are 23-24 against teams with a losing record and 45-33 against teams at or above .500.Nix, 22, began the season at Double-A San Antonio, where he went 2-3 with a 2.05 ERA in nine starts before being promoted to Triple-A El Paso. He pitched six scoreless innings and won his one start there before he joined the Padres after they designated veteran Phil Hughes for assignment.Nix won his major league debut Aug. 10 against Philadelphia, allowing four hits in six scoreless innings in San Diego’s 2-0 victory. He became the first Padres pitcher to throw six or more scoreless innings in his major league debut since Odrisamer Despaigne (seven innings) on June 23, 2014, at San Francisco.Nix lost his last start 5-1 Thursday against Arizona, a 42-pitch effort in which he gave up five hits, five runs and two walks in two-thirds of an inning. He became the first Padres pitcher this season not to get out of the first inning.“I really liked his response, taking ownership over it like recognizing, ‘Hey, I wasn’t good today. I’ve done that before though,’ ” Padres manager Andy Green said. “He knows he rebounds from things like this. So there’s clearly some resiliency inside of him Avisail Garcia Jersey , and that’s what it takes to pitch well at this level for a long time. He has good self-awareness, and he recognized it got going fast for him. And I think everybody that’s ever stepped on a big league mound would say that about themselves at a point in time.“I like the curveball playing early in counts and dropping it in wherever he wants. And the changeup looked really good, especially the first outing. So there’s stuff to believe in and the temperament seems like he’s wired right. There’s no soft spot on our schedule going forward, so every single time he steps on the mound, it’s going to be a challenge. And we’re going to bet on that temperament to rise up and meet that challenge.” ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — It took Brandon Lowe 20 at-bats to get his first major league hit last week, so the Tampa Bay rookie wasn’t about to let an 0-for-9 stretch bother him.Lowe came through with a two-out, two-run single in the first inning Wednesday night, and the Rays went on to a 6-3 win over the Kansas City Royals.“You get up to the big leagues and you feel that you have to go out and prove yourself,” said Lowe, one of six Rays to produce two hits each in the club’s fourth straight win. “I’ve been really stressing, trying to prove I belong here. Yesterday I was able to take a step back and relax and it worked out for the better.”Lowe is hitting .135 after 11 games, but he feels the worst might be over.“All you want to be able to do is help the team win,” he said. “I was searching, racking my brain and stressing out. Today I came in a little early, got in the cage and told myself to relax and don’t stress http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-frank-thomas-jersey , trust your skills.”Lowe and Mallex Smith drove in two runs each, and the Rays moved five games over .500 for the first time since July 2017. They had 14 hits, none of them with two outs.“A lot of good offensive numbers tonight that we kind of needed,” manager Kevin Cash said.Lowe’s two-run single came off Jakob Junis after hits by Michael Perez and Carlos Gomez.Junis (6-12) allowed four runs on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings, striking out five. Only two of the runs were earned.“He’s been consistently sharp, especially the last four outings,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “I expect him to go out and make starts like this, give us a chance to win like he did.”Whit Merrifield led off the fourth with his ninth home run, the Royals’ first hit of the game, extending his hitting streak to 11 games.Hunter Dozier added a two-run homer in the eighth, the second of the game off Yonny Chirinos. Dozier’s sixth homer of the season came on his 27th birthday.Ryan O’Hearn had his first first multi-hit game for the Royals with three of their seven hits, but Rosell Herrera was thrown out at the plate for the game’s final out after O’Hearn’s third hit.Rays opener Ryne Stanek pitched two hitless innings before Chirinos (2-5) took over. Chirinos gave up three runs on four hits while striking out four in five innings.Sergio Romo pitched the ninth for his 18th save in 25 opportunities.The loss clinched a sixth straight series loss for the Royals, who have lost 16 of 20 games overall and all six games against Tampa Bay this season.BETTER LATE THAN NEVERKevin Kiermaier, who had two hits and a walk, is hitting .357 in his last eight games, noteworthy mostly because he was batting .175 before that. “I’ve been pressing this whole year Bobby Jenks Jersey , trying to make up for all my lost time and all my (lack of) performance in one swing,” the Rays center fielder said. “I’ve been trying to kill the ball all year and hit the ball 700 feet, and that’s how I get myself out. You learn from things like this — being hurt and not playing the way you want to. It’s a learning experience and now I’m instituting those experiences into my approach.”GETTING A BREAKRays rookie 1B Jake Bauers, mired in a 1-for-33 slide, was out of the lineup. “He’s been pressing, there’s no denying it,” Cash said. “He’s frustrated with himself.” Bauers entered Wednesday hitting .209 with nine homers and 34 RBIs in 66 games.TRAINER’S ROOMRoyals: OF Jorge Bonifacio, scratched from Tuesday’s lineup with lower back stiffness, was on the bench again Wednesday, but available, Yost said.Rays: OF Tommy Pham said he hopes to be back Friday after dislocating his right ring finger on a head-first dive back to first base on Tuesday. “It feels fine other than the swelling,” Pham said.UP NEXTRight-hander Tyler Glasnow (1-3, 4.10 ERA) will make his fifth start for the Rays in the season series finale Thursday night. Glasnow took his first loss Saturday at Boston, going 6 2/3 innings after a second inning in which he gave up three walks and four runs. Left-hander Danny Duffy (7-11, 4.90) will start for Kansas City. He hasn’t started since Aug. 11 because of a left shoulder impingement.