The Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 5-3 on Friday, and Sonny Gray came away with the win anyway. The right-hander allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings, but his record still improved to 7-1 as Boston kept rolling with its fourth victory in the last six games.
That is why Gray is worth a closer look in the Red Sox score search after this one. Boston needed the result more than a polished outing, and Gray helped deliver it even without his best stuff. He said afterward that he was “not even close” to his usual strikeout form.
Gray said he could not execute the pitch mix that usually gets swings and misses. His spin, he said, was landing at the bottom of the zone or just below it, which kept him from finding the sweet spot. He also said teams are swinging earlier and more often against him, a pattern that showed up again against the Yankees.
Even so, his season line still points to how often he has kept Boston in games. Before Friday, Gray had made 10 starts and had allowed more than three runs just once, while he had given up more than two runs only three times in those 10 previous outings, according to Sean McAdam. He entered the night with a 3.20 ERA and 44 strikeouts across 11 starts, a run of consistency that has made him an important addition for Boston this year.
The odd part of Friday was that Gray was touched for three runs and still controlled the damage enough to finish with the win. That fits the larger pattern around him: he has allowed at least one run in all but two of his starts, but he has still put the Red Sox in position to win far more often than not. Boston does not need perfection from him every time out. It needs the same baseline reliability when the games tighten and the margin for error shrinks.
That is the real question now. If Gray can keep giving the Red Sox quality innings while the offense does just enough, Boston can keep its push alive. If his strikeout stuff keeps drifting and hitters keep jumping early, the club will have to find another way to hold the line down the stretch.
