BOSTON – With a six-pitch mix, and the self-proclaimed best spinner of the baseball in the Majors, it would surprise nobody if Sonny Gray throws a no-hitter at some point in his career.
For a while, it seemed like that point was going to be in a most dramatic setting – on Sunday Night Baseball against the Yankees.
Gray was electric and had a no-hitter until Amed Rosario ended it with a single with one out in the eighth. Just before Rosario’s base knock, Gray fanned Spencer Jones to become the seventh active pitcher with 2,000 career strikeouts.
However, the no-hit bid ending did nothing to diminish Gray’s dominant performance, particularly when the Red Sox had a stunning three-run rally in the bottom of the 10th for a 5-4 victory that gave them a four-game rivalry sweep.
With his pitches searing in all quadrants of the strike zone and bewildering the Yankees, Gray created an electric atmosphere for the Fenway faithful – not to mention in the home dugout.
“He was brilliant,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “He had command, was throwing strikes, was head in the count, sweepers, breaking balls– they all looked good. The guy was really good, he really was. So I legitimately thought he was going to do it.”
Gray was perfect through four, but Rosario also spoiled that bid with a one-out walk in the fifth. Was Gray aware of what he was on the verge of?
“I knew after like four innings,” said Gray. “I was like, ‘Oh, I haven’t given up a hit.’ And then after five. But I never [got preoccupied] by it. I solely was just so focused on executing every pitch that I threw. I know it sounds super cliché and whatever, but I was solely just like, ‘Execute this pitch, now execute this pitch, now execute this pitch’ throughout the whole time.”
It was the longest no-hit bid of Gray’s career. He went seven innings for the A’s on April 6, 2015, against the Rangers before giving up a hit.
“He executed very well tonight,” said Rosario. “He was executing pitches at the right time, the right moment. Sometimes you've just got to take off your hat when someone is performing like that."
The Red Sox haven’t had a no-hitter since Jon Lester threw one against the Royals on May 19, 2008.
With Roger Clemens in the broadcast booth for NBC and Clay Buchholz (no-hitter at Fenway on Sept. 1, 2007) a couple of levels beneath with Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, Gray twirled a masterpiece (7 1/3 innings, one hit, one walk, nine K’s), albeit one that won’t go into the history books. Of Gray’s 97 pitches, 64 were for strikes.
A master craftsman even at the age of 36, Gray had command of everything while lowering his ERA to 2.69.
“It's just so sick to see him out there and do his thing,” said Jarren Duran, who had the walk-off single. “I've sat behind him and watched him throw bullpens, and it's mind-boggling how smart and [self-aware] he is on the way he throws, and it shows every time he goes out there and shoves, so it's amazing.”
When Gray went on the injured list with a right hamstring strain after his fifth start, his ERA was 4.30. In the 10 starts since he came back, the righty has been a force, going 7-0 with a 2.08 ERA in 10 starts.
With ace Garrett Crochet out since April 25 with a left shoulder issue, Gray has stepped in as the ace of one of the strongest rotations in baseball. He and Ranger Suarez are the veterans in a rotation that currently has three rookies in Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and Jake Bennett.
The quintet has reeled off a stretch of 11 consecutive quality starts, going 7-1 with a 1.51 ERA. It is the longest stretch of quality starts for a Boston rotation since the 1988 team had 14 straight in April.
“I keep talking about the rotation, and he's been the leader of it, and you can't say enough about what they've done,” said Tracy.
The hit by Rosario was Gray’s last pitch of the night. As he walked off the mound, he got the loudest ovation any starting pitcher has received at Fenway Park this season.
“I think in the sixth inning, they started really getting into it. And that was cool,” said Gray. “And when I came out, it seemed like they appreciated the outing tonight. We need them if we're going to get back into this thing. And they were here for us this weekend, so I appreciate that.”