Sonny days with favorite behind plate
HOUSTON — On a night when Sonny Gray finally looked more like a No. 2 starter than a No. 5, the biggest stat of the game was one. That’s how many times Gray thinks he shook off his catcher, Austin Romine, and it’s clear that the battery should remain together — at least until the 28-year-old righty becomes more consistent.
Gray turned in his best outing of the young season with Romine behind the plate in Monday’s 2-1 loss to the Astros at Minute Maid Park, allowing two runs on four hits in six innings against the defending World Series champions. Gray walked three and struck out four. He also balked, which led to a run in the first.
Charlie Morton just happened to be better, dealing like it was Game 7 of the ALCS all over again and flirting with a no-hitter. Morton struck out 10 in 7.2 dominant innings, allowing just one run on two hits. So Gray got no run support, a familiar theme from 2017.
Still, this was a step forward, a quantum leap considering how bad Gray has pitched most of the year.
Aaron Boone has made it clear that he wants to stay away from using personal catchers, but there’s no reason to get away from something that has worked rather well. In four starts this season with Romine, Gray has pitched to a 3.92 ERA, compared to a 15.63 ERA in two starts with Gary Sanchez.
“When it makes sense, at least in the short term, we’ll do that,” Boone said, noting Romine will catch Gray’s next start on Saturday against Cleveland at home, a day game after a night game. “And hopefully we’ll get to a point where it doesn’t matter at some point.” Gray would like that as well. “When everything is going good and you’re winning, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “When you’re going through a little bit of a funk or whatever, everything gets magnified.”
That’s what happens when a team trades three prospects for a guy they hope can be a differencemaker, and he struggles mightily — especially in New York. But Gray has looked better of late, not doing as much nibbling and working at a better pace, which benefits everyone. He got seven of his nine swings and misses with his four-seam and two-seam fastballs.
In the clubhouse after the cameras had gone away, Gray spoke openly with a few reporters about why Romine has made a difference in the psychological job that is pitching when his repertoire is constantly changing as the game progresses. There is clearly a trust factor and comfort between the two. “After the second or third inning, we had a quick communication, and he asked me, ‘What do you feel?’ And I said, ‘I feel good with my curveball right now. My slider’s kind of backing up a bit,’” Gray said. “So we transformed in situations where maybe you would traditionally throw a slider and maybe instead throw a cutter or a curve. It’s being able to adapt to the flow of the game, but also what do you have right now?”
Gray has always been this way throughout his career, he says, needing to adapt depending on which particular pitches are working.
Ultimately, what pitch is thrown, Gray said, is on him. But he also believes in what fingers Romine is putting down — especially in jams.
“It could’ve gotten away from us big time,” Gray said. “And that’s the spots where I really rely on him. There’s a lot of times there’s a pitch called and you wouldn’t necessarily have done that yourself, but then your mind directly goes to the train of thought that he’s thinking, and then you flip the switch and you’re like, ‘I’m in.’”
The difference between the Yankees and Astros remains the starting rotation, where Houston has five guys with the ability to neutralize Murderers’ Row 2.0. The Bombers need more behind Luis Severino and CC Sabathia. They need more from Gray and they need more consistency from Masahiro Tanaka. And after missing out on Gerrit Cole, who is his dominant self in Houston, they need another difference-maker by the trade deadline.
And they need to stick with Gray and Romine together — at least for now.