Gray’s brutal outing his latest against Red Sox
BOSTON — If the Yankees are going to live up to their high expectations this season, they have to get past the Red Sox.
They now have alarming evidence Sonny Gray isn’t going to provide much help against their rivals.
Gray was awful in Thursday’s 6-3 loss in the series finale at Fenway Park, giving up six runs — with three wild pitches — in just threeplus innings.
Afterward, he couldn’t explain what went wrong.
“I’m not sure,” Gray said. “A couple of walks and a couple of bloop hits and the next thing you know, you can give up four runs pretty easily.’’
Aaron Boone pointed to Gray getting behind in the count too often.
“It’s frustrating because he is really important for us and we know what he is capable of,’’ the manager said. “I feel like it will turn around, but tonight wasn’t the night.’’
It wasn’t just Thursday night that makes Gray look like a bad matchup against the Red Sox.
In seven career starts versus Boston, he’s 1-5 with a 5.97 ERA — thanks in part to his performance Thursday, perhaps his worst start as a Yankee. It was his shortest outing since Sept. 28, 2016, and in four starts at Fenway, Gray is 0-3 with a 7.13 ERA.
The right-hander, who had allowed no more than two earned runs in any of his previous road starts, had a hard time with his command on a damp night.
In the first, Gray hit Hanley Ramirez on the wrist, forcing him from the game.
An inning later, Gray gave up three hits, threw two wild pitches and walked two. One of the walks was to Brock Holt, who entered the game 1-for-13 for the season.
That loaded the bases with no one out and Mookie Betts’ sacrifice fly made it 2-0 and with the infield in, second baseman Tyler Wade made a bad throw home on an Andrew Benintendi grounder, which allowed another run to score.
By the time the ugly inning was over, the Red Sox were up by four, with a dominant Rick Porcello on the mound. Porcello didn’t allow a hit until Aaron Judge started the seventh with a double.
The six runs were as many as Gray has given up as a Yankee.
“I felt OK,” Gray said. “It was just one of those nights. I was scuffling to find the zone and it didn’t go our way.’’