In the shortest possible sample size, perhaps it wasn’t Yankee Stadium’s fault.
Sonny Gray, he of the 6.55 Bronx ERA while he was a Yankee, compared with a 2.84 road ERA, did not look solved in his first start outside the pinstripes since being traded this offseason.
The right-hander, pitching at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park on Sunday, was dreadful against the Pirates, allowing three runs (two earned), five hits and four walks in 2 2/3 innings. It took him 71 pitches to get those eight outs.
Not helping out Sonny Gray the pitcher was Sonny Gray the fielder. In the top of the first, it was a race to first between Gray and Starling Marte, who had hit a hot shot that made Joey Votto range to his right. Gray was the winner, but he dropped the toss and Marte was safe. Two batters later, Marte came around to score.
The Reds hope they’ll be able to turn Gray around, a reclamation project who was a star with Oakland before being dealt to the Yankees. And Gray has believed throwing fewer sliders — a pitch the Yankees “love” and asked him to throw more, he told The Athletic — would help him become the pitcher he was.