New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone confirmed shortly after Sonny Gray stumbled through another brutal outing Friday at Rogers Centre that the right-hander will keep his rotation spot for at least one more.
Gray, who failed to complete three innings for a second successive start, will get the ball during the Yankees' upcoming four-game set against the Baltimore Orioles, which kicks off with a doubleheader Monday at Camden Yards.
Beyond that, though, Boone made no promises.
"I am concerned," Boone said to reporters after his team's loss. "But, we also believe in the stuff. As best we can, we've got to try and help him right the ship."
Gray's volatile, largely ineffective campaign seemed to reach its nadir Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays, who forced him to his earliest exit in 2018. After allowing five earned runs over two innings against the Blue Jays, Gray now owns a 9.00 ERA with a 1.90 WHIP over his last five outings, none of which qualified as quality starts.
"Another poor performance," Gray quipped following his club's 6-2 loss, per Lindsey Adler of The Athletic.
Though Gray enjoyed a solid five-week stretch earlier this season following a largely unimpressive April, he now owns a 5.85 ERA across 17 starts, and his home run woes have been particularly worrisome of late.
| Date | IP | ERA | WHIP | K/BB | HR/9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1 - April 25 | 21 | 7.71 | 2.14 | 1.19 | 0.86 |
| April 30 - June 6 | 42 2/3 | 3.38 | 1.12 | 2.79 | 1.05 |
| June 13 - July 6 | 21 | 9.00 | 1.90 | 2.38 | 1.71 |
"I expect to come out and perform and make it fun, and the way I've thrown the ball, I don't think it's been fun," Gray told ESPN's Coley Harvey after allowing six runs over 2 1/3 innings Saturday against the Boston Red Sox. "We're the best team in baseball four out of five days, and then I come out and do that. It just sucks."
Gray, acquired from the Oakland Athletics ahead of last year's trade deadline, has minor-league options remaining (and fewer than five years of MLB service time), meaning he can be sent down to Triple-A without being exposed to waivers.