NEW YORK — Former Yankees pitcher-turned-foe Sonny Gray returned to Yankee Stadium carrying more history than most elimination-game starters. He had already worn pinstripes, struggled in the Bronx, rebuilt his career elsewhere and then chosen Boston, where his arrival came with fresh public tension toward his former team. His move to the Red Sox last offseason forced that old Yankees chapter back into view, turning an ordinary postseason assignment into a reunion with years of unresolved history attached.
The reception Wednesday reflected all of it. Yankees fans booed the 36-year-old right-hander before and during Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series, while Gray tried to keep Boston alive after a 9-0 loss in the opener. The Yankees eventually won 9-2, finished a two-game sweep and advanced to the AL Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. The crowd of 49,004 saw a former Yankees pitcher return in the uniform of their oldest rival with Boston’s season on his shoulders.
Gray did not pitch like a man overwhelmed by the setting. He kept the Yankees scoreless through three innings and allowed only a solo home run to Luis García Jr. in the fourth before Boston’s season began to tilt away from him. The official MLB box score credited the pitcher with 4 2/3 innings, six hits, two earned runs, no walks and five strikeouts. It was a competitive line against a Yankees lineup that started eight left-handed hitters and had scored nine runs the previous night.
That performance added another layer to a relationship that has never been simple. MLB records show Gray posted a 4.90 ERA in 2018, his only full season with the Yankees, before New York traded him to Cincinnati. He returned to the Bronx this year as an 18-game winner with a 2.72 ERA, and the Red Sox had won both of his regular-season starts against the Yankees. One of those outings included 7 1/3 scoreless innings, giving Boston reason to trust him again with its season at stake.
Gray question Boston strategy
The turn came with two outs in the fifth. The Yankees led 1-0 with runners at the corners and Cody Bellinger due. Gray had thrown only 70 pitches. Boston manager Chad Tracy chose left-hander Erik Miller instead of letting Gray face the Yankees lineup for a third time.
Bellinger immediately singled home a run. Miller then allowed a single to García, but Boston escaped when Nate Eaton threw out Ben Rice at the plate. The Yankees then scored six in the sixth against Garrett Crochet and Garrett Whitlock. Max Fried earned the win after six innings of one-run ball, Gray took the loss and no save was credited.
Gray made clear afterward that he disagreed. His season-long numbers gave him a statistical case for staying in.
“I think I’m the best pitcher in the American League the third time through the order,” Gray said. “I think that’s a fact. I would have liked to be trusted in that moment.”
Gray’s numbers complicate Boston’s quick hook
Gray held hitters to a .180/.235/.280 slash line the third time through the order and posted a 1.99 ERA in those situations. That translates to a .515 OPS for hitters seeing him for the third time.
The contrast sharpened because Miller had faded late. In his final five regular-season appearances, the left-hander posted a 12.46 ERA and 2.538 WHIP. He had also allowed a homer and a single while getting only one out in Game 1.
For Yankees fans, the sequence carried a reversal of Gray’s first Bronx chapter. His first Yankees tenure became tied to a pitcher who never looked comfortable in New York. This time, he looked capable of keeping Boston alive before the Red Sox took the ball away.
For Red Sox fans, the frustration ran the other way. Gray had been one of Boston’s best starters, going 18-5 across 29 starts. His third-time-through results cut against the logic behind the hook.
Viral images added an unresolved wrinkle
MLB fans found another layer of controversy in Sonny Gray’s return to Yankee Stadium, with social media users questioning whether the Red Sox starter had a foreign substance on his neck during Game 2.
Screenshots and video clips circulated Wednesday night showing a dark, shiny mark along the side of Gray’s neck. Fans also focused on moments when the pitcher appeared to touch the area after receiving a new baseball, fueling speculation that he was using pine tar or another grip-enhancing substance.
The suspicion spread quickly as Gray held the Yankees largely in check early, allowing two runs over 4 2/3 innings before Boston manager Chad Tracy removed him after 70 pitches.
There is no public evidence that Gray violated MLB’s foreign-substance rules, and game officials did not announce any infraction. Still, the images became a talking point among Yankees and MLB fans after Boston’s season ended in a 9-2 loss.
Umpires did not stop the game over it, and no MLB discipline or official finding had been reported as of Oct. 1. Gray did not address it postgame.
The images created suspicion, not proof. For Yankees fans, they added another provocative layer to a charged reunion. For Red Sox fans, they complicated a night already dominated by questions about Gray’s removal.
MLB responded
Major League Baseball investigated the substance seen on Sonny Gray’s neck during Boston’s Game 2 wild-card loss to the Yankees. WFAN’s Craig Carton reported that umpires checked Gray’s hat, glove and hands after every inning. Fans had questioned the visible discoloration and Gray’s repeated touching of the area while pitching.
“He was checked after every inning. The spin rate was not up at all compared to his starts throughout the regular season,” Carton said. “They did a full check because, obviously, if you’re watching the game, like we all are, you saw the right side of his neck was discolored.”
Gray’s future now carries the same uncertainty
The defeat ended Boston’s season after the Yankees outscored the Red Sox 18-2 in the series. Gray’s future is unsettled, too. His contract includes a $30 million mutual option for 2027.
Asked whether Boston would be a destination if he pitches next season, Gray did not commit.
“I don’t know,” he said.
Gray returned to Yankee Stadium as a former Yankees disappointment, pitched like Boston’s best chance to survive, left angry over a decision he could not control and later became the subject of an unproven social-media controversy.
The Yankees moved on. The Red Sox went home. Gray was again caught between both fan bases, with his performance clear and his next destination unresolved.
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