GRAY BATTER
SONNY FOLLOWS RED SOX FLOP WITH ANOTHER STINKER
TORONTO — Was Sonny Gray’s shortest outing of the season his last for a while? Not according to man in charge. “I think he can right the ship in the rotation,’’ Aaron Boone said after the light-hitting Blue Jays punished the struggling Gray on the way to a 6-2 win in front of 37,254 at Rogers Centre on Friday night. “He has another one coming up in Baltimore.’’
Should Gray continue to falter, as he has in his past three starts, in which he is 0-3 with a 12.27 ERA, the Yankees can’t hang in with the right-hander until he improves.
After Gray was punished by the Red Sox last week, general manager Brian Cashman and Boone said they were sticking by the beleaguered right-hander. On Friday night, the manager echoed his belief in Gray, who hasn’t offered much in the way of hope lately.
In his shortest outing since Sept. 28, 2016 with the Athletics, when he was coming back from the disabled list and threw an inning. Gray gave up five runs, six hits, walked two, hit one and uncorked two wild pitches.
Gray is 5-7 with a 5.85 ERA and has lost his last three starts which is no way for the Yankees to keep pace with the AL East-leading Red Sox, who beat the Royals on Friday night and increased their lead to two games.
Justin Smoak’s three-run homer in the five-run second was the blow that knocked out Gray, who hung a slider in the middle of the plate. After he retired Russell Martin for the final out of the inning, Gray was done for the evening.
“There have been way too many games like this and not the other way,’’ Gray said. “It’s not early in the season anymore. This is when you are expected to contribute and I haven’t been close to that.’’
With Masahiro Tanaka returning from the DL on Tuesday to face the Orioles, the Yankees are going to need a rotation spot. Domingo German can move from starting to the bullpen and fill the long relief role that David Hale (one run in 5 2/3 innings) handled very well Friday night.
Yet, Boone was very clear that Gray is going to get the chance to work out of the funk as a starter at least until the All-Star break.
“I don’t think we will do that before the All Star break,’’ Boone said of dropping Gray from the rotation.
That might be due to the options being Jonathan Loaisiga or Luis Cessa. However, if the Yankees can acquire
Blue Jays ace J.A. Happ, who starts against them on Saturday, the picture would certainly change.
“I need to stay positive, put in the work and turn this thing around,’’ Gray said. “I am going to go out and compete as long as they want me to and turn it around.’’
It certainly wasn’t the way the Yankees wanted to start aroad trip of 11 games in 10 days that will take them to the All-Star break.
The Yankees missed a big chance to cut further into a 5-1 deficit in the fifth when they scored a run, but watched Giancarlo Stanton strike out with the bases loaded after the first three pitches were balls from right-handed reliever Joe Biagini. Stanton, who had the green light on 3-0 from the bench, missed the next two and looked at a third for the second out. Didi Gregorius left the bases juiced with a liner to left.
Stanton opened the game hitting .378 (17-for-45) with three homers and nine RBIs in the last 11 games but went 0-for-3 — all strikeouts — with a walk.
“We all wanted [Stanton] to come through and get the big hit,’’ Boone said. “More often than not you are not going to come through.’’
That has been the case with Gray lately and he is right: it’s not early in the season.
“All I can say is it that it is in there to be effective,’’ Boone said of Gray’s stuff. “But we have to start to see that.’’
And quickly.