Struggling Gray is likely trade bait
Houston roughs up pitcher for five in first, but reportedly atop list of interested teams
OAKLAND — After a nightmarish beginning to the game, A’s ace Sonny Gray showed why contenders will covet him in next month’s upcoming trade deadline.
Despite coming into the night winless since May 24 with a 5.87 ERA since, Gray’s electric stuff has placed him at the forefront of trade rumors this past week, with Tuesday’s opponent, the Houston Astros, reportedly at the top of the list of teams looking to acquire his services.
Gray has shown flashes of brilliance this season, but his lackluster numbers have been due to the inability to limit damage in a specific inning in almost each of his starts. That trend continued. Houston managed to bat around in a five-run first inning that was catapulted by George Springers 21st home run of the season, a leadoff homer to begin the night.
“I just got behind in some counts and threw some twostrike pitches that caught too much of the plate,” Gray said of the disastrous inning. “I really dug us a big hole there in the first. Against a team like that, giving up a five-spot in the first makes it tough on the rest of the guys.”
Gray proceeded to respond with four shutout innings of
two-hit ball and even struck out the side in his final inning of work after the rough start to keep the A’s in the game of what was an eventual 8-4 loss.
The frustration of the inning that gets away has been mounting for Gray, who described it as a “snowball effect.”
“It has been one inning for numerous starts now where things kind of escalate,” Gray said. “I’m gonna have to figure this thing out. Whether it’s getting off the mound and slowing myself down, I’ve gotta figure out a way to shut the inning down when I get two outs.”
One sign that Gray isn’t too far off from his dominant ways came in the fourth when he struck out Jose Altuve on a curveball that caused the reigning American League batting champion to swing and fall to his knees.
“That just shows you that my stuff is good and it’s there,” Gray said. “I think now it’s just a mentality thing moving forward. My stuff has been great all year.”
Manager Bob Melvin has seen plenty of instances where good pitchers are susceptible to poor starts early in a game, and that’s exactly what happened on Tuesday.
“We talk often about how starters are more vulnerable in the first inning than other innings and he just couldn’t stop the bleeding there,” Melvin said. “Once he got back out in the second and got a couple of outs he got into a rhythm and pitched well after that.”
Stephen Vogt also believes his batterymate isn’t too far off from regaining his form as a top-notch pitcher.
“He knows how good he is. You saw the next four innings how they weren’t able to get anything going against him,” Vogt said. “We just have to eliminate the big inning and limit the damage.”
As each inning went along, the A’s slowly began to claw their way back from the early five-run deficit.
Oakland immediately got a run back in the first after Khris Davis brought home Jed Lowrie all the way from first base on a booming double off the right field wall that nearly left the yard. Chad Pinder then made it 5-2 in the third with a towering solo shot into the left field bleachers that traveled 448 feet for his ninth home run of the year.
After another run on a sacrifice fly from Ryon Healy in the fourth, Rajai Davis brought the A’s within one run at 5-4 in the seventh after leading off the inning with a double and eventually scoring on a single from Jaycob Brugman.
“You have to hold them down the entire game for the most part, especially with their pitching,” Melvin said. “We found some good at-bats and found ourselves back in the game. They battled back but we just gave up too many in the first.”
Liam Hendriks was looking to escape the eighth unscathed as he recorded two outs after allowing the first two runners of the inning to reach base, but Carlos Correa gave the Astros some breathing room with a single to center that drove in both Alex Bregman and Jake Marisnick to extend their lead to 7-4.
After spending the last seven years in the minor leagues, 30-year-old CalBerkeley product Michael Brady took the mound in the ninth for his major league debut. The first batter he faced was Carlos Beltran, who welcomed Brady to the show with a home run to make it 8-4 Astros.
The Astros continue to have their way with the A’s as they improved to 6-1 against Oakland this season.