MIAMI -- In Wednesday night’s series finale against the Marlins at loanDepot park, Red Sox starter Sonny Gray began his outing by throwing three straight balls. That’s when he knew something was off.
“Just not a well-played game all around,” Gray said after Boston fell, 4-0, to Miami.
“[It] started with me. They just beat us tonight. No other way around that.”
Gray allowed two runs on seven hits and one walk in five innings. He threw 93 pitches, 54 for strikes, and struck out five before turning it over to the bullpen in the sixth.
Gray was looking for his MLB-leading 17th win. Instead, he took only his fourth loss of the season.
“I did OK,” said Gray, who has a 2.82 ERA. “It was sloppy, very. But some games are like that. Like I said, we came in and we played a good series against a really good team, especially in their home ballpark. That's just a fact, and tonight just wasn't our night.”
Gray had gone 9-1 with a 2.02 ERA in his past 10 starts on the road. He had also completed at least six innings in nine consecutive road starts. His outing was his shortest since he threw five innings against the Blue Jays at home on July 25.
“He was OK,” interim manager Chad Tracy said. “He got behind some counts more than often. … But overall, he gave us five innings, so that was good.”
Coming into the game, Boston had provided Gray with an average of 5.2 runs of support, which was the fifth highest in the American League. On Wednesday, the Sox left nine men on base while collecting only five hits against Miami’s pitching.
Gray has the fourth-lowest ERA in the AL, but going into Wednesday’s game, his xERA was almost a full run higher at 3.62.
Luck was not in Gray’s corner on Wednesday.
Gray started Kyle Stowers with the heater in the first and returned to it for his fourth offering, this time with Stowers squaring it for a leadoff single. Griffin Conine then grounded out to first baseman Nick Sogard.
After Sogard touched first, he tried to double up Stowers at second. But his throw deflected off Stowers’ helmet and went past shortstop Andruw Monasterio into left field, allowing Stowers to reach third.
Stowers then crossed home after Heriberto Hernández singled on a ground ball to left field, giving Miami an early lead.
“Kind of some unlucky runs as far as the throws and the errors ricocheting,” Tracy said.
After Otto Lopez led off the bottom of the second inning with a single to left field, Owen Caissie came up to bat and connected on a 1-0 cutter from Gray. The ball came off the bat at 107.2 mph, but center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela laid out to make a diving catch.
Lopez was able to add another run after catcher Connor Wong made a throwing error trying to catch Lopez stealing second. The ball bounced off Lopez and traveled deep to center field, allowing Lopez to circle the bases and slide head-first into home.
“As you go into it, you know they're one of the more active teams running the bases. I think you saw more of that today,” Tracy said. “They were very frequently moving today, and when they do that, you can create some errant throws and things like that.”
The four errors were the most this season by Boston. Two came from Sogard and two from Wong, who replaced Willson Contreras and Adley Rutschman, who were out of the lineup on Wednesday.
“I think it was a good series for us overall,” Gray said. “We found ways to win the first two games, which was great. And then tonight they just beat us, and that's part of it sometimes.”