Gray could be pitching his way off team
With scouts from the Astros, Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Blue Jays among those on hand at the Coliseum, Sonny Gray put together another strong start and in doing so probably hastened his departure from Oakland.
Gray, the top starting pitcher currently believed to be available on the trade market, worked six innings and didn’t allow a runner past second base as the A’s opened the second half with a 5-0 win over the defending American League champions on Friday night.
“Sonny’s been excellent,” outfielder Rajai Davis said. “It seems like every time out there, he gives us a chance to win. He’s been very solid.”
Davis, who got a start because Jaycob Brugman was out with the stomach flu, had a big night against his former team, with two hits, including a homer, and two runs, and Yonder
Alonso, fresh from the All-Star Game, contributed with his 21st homer, a solo shot in the fifth. Gray, Davis and Alonso all could be gone by the end of the month as the going-young A’s look to move some of their veterans.
For the second time in three starts, Gray was the subject of a false rumor earlier in the day. He said he had received 50 texts on his phone 45 minutes before game as a result. “At times, it can be difficult,” Gray said of the rumors. “You just don’t know. It’s just one of those things you have to deal with sometimes.”
The A’s public relations department went so far as to announce that he had not been scratched from his start, as was erroneously reported by a radio announcer in Chicago on Friday evening. The Cubs are among the teams that have significant interest in Gray. Although they did not have a representative in the scouts’ section Friday, they have followed him diligently during the past month.
Over his past four starts and 21 innings, Gray has allowed 11 hits, five walks and four earned runs and has 21 strikeouts.
“I’ve just been more in attack mode,” he said.
Gray threw 22 pitches in the first before settling into a groove. “It’s always different coming back from the All-Star break, you have a lot of days off — eight or nine days — and sometimes you feel a little rusty,” Gray said.
Ryan Madson pitched the seventh, allowed one hit and struck out the side. He, too, is a prime candidate to be dealt, especially after allowing just two runs over his past 15 games. Sean Doolittle, coveted by many teams because he’s left-handed and signed through 2020, worked a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts.
Oakland’s first hit off Carlos Carrasco came in the third, when Davis led off with an infield single. Matt Joyce doubled to right center and Davis beat the throw home, getting his hand in just ahead of the tag by Yan Gomes. “When I took a peek, I was like, ‘Uh oh, this is going to be close,’ ” Davis said.
Joyce took third on the throw and scored on a sacrifice fly by Marcus Semien.
Davis, who provided one of the biggest highlights in Indians’ history last fall with his game-tying homer in Game 7 of the World Series, led off the fifth with a drive to left off Carrasco. That ended a 31game streak without an RBI, the longest of his career, matching the team’s longest such streak in the past 34 years (Allen Battle, April 19-Aug. 14, 1996).
Rookie Matt Chapman put the “run” into Oakland’s final run, smacking a leadoff triple in the seventh and racing in to score when a wild pitch by Nick Goody bounced just a few feet away from Gomes.
“I was impressed,” Davis said. “The ball got maybe a foot or two off the dirt and he scored. That’s a move I would do. You don’t see that often.”