USA TODAY International Edition
Gray sparkles as deadline nears
Athletics ace back in form, coveted by contenders
OAKLAND Leaving the field to the cheers of an appreciative crowd Wednesday brought back memories for Sonny Gray of some of his biggest moments in an Oakland Athletics uniform.
His performance of late must have had the same effect on all those scouts watching his every pitch.
Pitching in perhaps his final home game at Oakland Coliseum, Gray held the Tampa Bay Rays to two runs over 61⁄ innings while 3 striking out six in a 7- 2 A’s victory. It was the fifth consecutive strong start for perhaps the most coveted starter on the trade market, bringing his ERA in that stretch to 1.62 and his batting average against to .155.
“I’ve had a lot of times coming off the mound getting some nice ovations, some cheers here,” Gray said. “It took me back to 2013 and those two playoff games. It was really nice.”
Gray’s recent stretch stands in stark contrast to his previous five starts, in which he fashioned a 6.43 ERA, was torched for a .319 batting average and struggled with command.
Coming on the heels of his worst season, it’s reasonable to ask which Gray a trade partner would be getting and how much he’s worth. Is he the 2015 All- Star who finished third in Cy Young Award voting despite pitching for a last- place team, or the often- injured pitcher who went 5- 11 with a 5.69 ERA last year?
Those answers won’t be revealed for a while, but one trait that stands out about Gray’s track record is his ability to rise to the occasion, which might help explain his latest surge even as trade chatter is circulating.
“I’ve played in a lot of big games in my life, and there’s distractions all over the place,” Gray told USA TODAY Sports. “This is just another thing you notice, and you can deal with it how you want. But when it’s time to pitch, it’s time to pitch.”
A first- round draft pick out of Vanderbilt in 2011, Gray as a rookie threw eight scoreless innings in a duel with Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander in Game 2 of the 2013 American League Division Series as the A’s prevailed 1- 0. Gray got the call for the decisive Game 5, but Verlander and a reliever shut out the A’s.
Gray was the winning pitcher in the games that clinched a playoff spot for Oakland in 2013 and ’ 14, the latter a six- hit shutout on the last day of the regular season.
For a contender, those big- time performances might be just as ap- pealing as Gray’s youth ( 27) and the fact he would be under team control through the 2019 season.
Gray had to grow up quickly when, at 14, he lost his father in a car crash. That same day, Gray threw four touchdown passes to lead his freshman team to victory. Those trials allow him to render trade rumors as little more than a nuisance.
Less than an hour before his start Friday, Gray was bombarded with text messages responding to a false report that he was being scratched, a likely preamble to a trade. He brushed it off and threw six innings of two- hit ball in a 5- 0 victory against the Cleveland Indians.
There are other reasons why, despite last year’s struggles and his inconsistency this season — he’s 6- 4 with a 3.66 ERA — Gray remains such a hot commodity, with the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees among his suitors.
Gray attributes the fits and starts in his return to ace- like form to the rust accumulated as he battled through a 2016 season that saw him miss time because of trapezius and forearm injuries, then sat out April this year with a strained lat.
However, he insists his confidence never faltered.
“I’ve always known how good I am,” he said, “how good I’ve been and how good I’m going to be.”
Contenders are paying close attention.