Gray cruises in longest Cactus League outing

Top Rockies prospect Jon Gray hadn't given up a single run all spring when the D-backs figured out his powerful fastball in the first inning of his fourth start last week. Helped along by veteran catcher Nick Hundley, the right-hander adjusted to finish that day strong, and on Tuesday, he added another good outing to his resume.

MLB.com's No. 17 prospect threw just 44 pitches in four shutout innings, yielding two hits and striking out two as Colorado rallied to down Milwaukee, 5-1, on Monday.

"I'm very pleased, but I've got to tip my hat to the defense behind me," Gray said after lowering his Cactus League ERA to 2.08 through 13 innings. "They robbed, like, four hits. They were great."

The third overall pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft started his Spring Training slate with six shutout innings over three appearances before Arizona tagged him for three runs in the opening frame of his March 18 start. After that, Gray mixed in his changeup earlier in at-bats, keeping D-backs hitters off balance and limiting Arizona to one hit over his final two innings.

Gray impressed the Rockies with that rebound effort.

"We talked about it in the dugout and he felt good about what had just happened, how he was able to turn it around," Colorado manager Walt Weiss said after that night's 7-2 Rockies loss. "We win those games, because for the most part we're going to score runs. A three-run first isn't going to kill us."

Gray's Monday outing was even better. After surrendering a leadoff single to Carlos Gomez in the first inning, the right-hander picked Gomez off at first base and retired the next 10 batters he faced, two of them via strikeout. Ryan Braun's two-out single in the fourth was the only blemish on Gray's day after that.

He also faced a challenge of a different sort on Monday: his first at-bat of the Cactus League season. The University of Oklahoma product batted in the No. 8 spot in the Colorado lineup, something his manager experimented with for the first time.

"It intrigues me enough that I wanted to look at it a few times down here," Weiss said. "I told our guys that I didn't want them to think that I'm screwing with our chances to win, or that I think I'm smarter than the game or smarter than anybody else. We all know that's not the case."

Gray struck out looking in his lone trip to the plate to end the second.

The Rockies could take a longer look at Gray or Colorado's No. 2 prospect Eddie Butler after a shakeup in their rotation this week. Colorado released veteran starter Jhoulys Chacin on Sunday, potentially opening up a spot in their starting five. Butler said his only goal is improvement ahead of the 2015 season.

"I can't control the other guys' actions, if somebody else throws well or doesn't throw well, or time served, since there are guys with more time served than me that are fighting for that spot," Butler told MLB.com. "It's just a matter of what I do. Control what you can."

Colorado's No. 19 prospect Cristhian Adames notched a hit and an RBI in the win.