The Texas Rangers continued Cactus League play on Friday afternoon, as we are now less than a month away from Opening Day.

Texas traveled to Camelback Ranch for a showdown with the Chicago White Sox and their former assistant manager, Will Venable.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, the ball did not bounce their way, as they lost 3-1, dropping their Cactus League record to 4-5.

New acquisition MacKenzie Gore took the mound for the Rangers, and he looked every bit the pitcher the Rangers envisioned trading for.

Gore went three innings, allowing just three hits and no runs with a strikeout while throwing 38 pitches.

“I felt good,” Gore said. “I held the stuff throughout the outing, which is good; it was another step forward. [I need to] continue to execute when we’re ahead of guys, but I thought it was solid and now we’ll move onto the next one.”

The radar gun was also looking nice for Gore today, who had a couple of 96 and 97 MPH pitches.

Following Gore on the mound was fellow new Ranger Alexis Diaz, who struggled, going 2/3 innings, allowing two hits, three earned runs, and a walk while taking the loss in the game.

Robert Garcia pitched in the game as well, throwing a clean inning with a pair of strikeouts. He will soon depart Rangers camp and head to join Team Mexico, where he will pitch in the World Baseball Classic.

Newly acquired Rangers reliever Jakob Junis threw a scoreless inning as well while striking a batter out.

Minor-league invitee Josh Spoz also threw a scoreless inning with a strikeout as he looks to continue to battle to make the Opening Day roster.

Offensively, it wasn’t a day filled with regulars, but there were certainly some sprinkled, and they no doubt had an impact.

Even Carter led off and played center field, picking up a hit and a walk, Jake Burger played first base and also had a hit.

Josh Smith got the start at second base and drew a walk. Young outfielders Michael Helaman and Alejandro Osuna both played in left and right field, respectively.

Josh Jung was supposed to get the start at third base, but was held back another day due to a hamstring injury, for which the Rangers are taking precautionary measures.

The Rangers will be back in action on Saturday at Surprise Staduim, where they will welcome the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

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