Gray has a fastball that can zoom above 95 mph, but the slider has been the "out" pitch for 81 of his 129 strikeouts, according to Statcast™ data. So he was doomed without it the last two starts. The problems were different: against the Marlins he threw it at 90.49 mph, or in the range that it works; against the Phillies it looped in at 87.43.
"Against the Marlins, the action was so bad, really bad," Gray said. "It was really flat. It didn't have an effect at all. It was an easy, hittable pitch. The one [Giancarlo Stanton] hit [for a fourth-inning, two-run homer] was a terrible slider.