HERE AGAIN!
Gray pitches like ace Yanks hoped for in deal
This is why the Yankees traded for Sonny Gray. The right-hander picked up his second win in pinstripes on Saturday, holding the Mariners to one run on three hits while striking out nine over seven innings in a 6-3 win. It comes on the heels of an 11-inning loss the night before and the fiasco in Detroit in which the Yankees fell, 10-6, in a game that included several brawls. “I thought his command was good,” manager Joe Girardi said. “He had a lot of strikeouts today, which I thought was important.” It’s the ace the Yankees planned to have when they traded Jorge Mateo, James Kaprielian and Dustin Fowler to the A’s. That’s not to say Gray hasn’t pitched well since coming to New York. In fact, he’s allowed two-or-fewer runs in his last 11 straight starts — the longest streak in the majors this season — but Saturday’s performance was by far his best. “He’s pitched pretty well, we just haven’t scored runs and that’s the bottom line,” Girardi said. It looked as if Gray would lack run support again early in the game after the Yankees squandered a leadoff single from Brett Gardner and managed just one run in the second despite three reaching base.
But Jacoby Ellsbury put those concerns to rest with a three-run home run in the fourth, giving Gray a comfortable lead to work with.
“That was huge,” Gray said. “That was such a big moment in the game. I think we got two quick outs and then we put together some really good at bats and then Jacoby comes up with the really big hit. It was a really big turning point in the game for sure.”
The Yankees have managed to score more than one run just once in Gray’s first four starts, putting up five against the Mets on Aug. 15.
But Gray said being given a lead doesn’t change the way he pitches.
“For me, I’m just going out there trying to put up a zero whether that happens or not,” he said. “At the same time it kicks you in the butt a little bit to go out there and get three outs.”
Gray was tested with the lead an inning later, hitting both Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager with just one out in the sixth-bringing the tying runs to the plate-but he managed to escape the inning unscathed.
Gray struck out Mitch Haniger for the second out and got Ben Gamel to fly out the center field to end the threat.
“I think it’s the way he handles his business,” Girardi said of what’s most impressive about Gray. “He came here and had a lot of high expectations. He makes 2-3 starts where we don’t score any runs and he’s just continues to go out and does what he’s supposed to do. When we score runs, he wins.”