Sonny Gray
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Just when you thought Sonny Gray’s season couldn’t get any worse, a New York Yankees loss happened on Wednesday afternoon. 

Just when you thought Sonny Gray’s season couldn’t get any worse, Wednesday happened.

On this particular day, the first day of August, the sun came and went away just as Mr. Gray did in two and two-thirds innings.

It was the sixth time this season Sonny Gray was lit up for five or more runs in games in which he went fewer than four innings pitched:

Courtesy of ESPN’s Cole Harvey, that above is correct. There have been no pitchers in the history of the Yankees to accomplish what he did today.

Sonny Gray's final line read: (2.2 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 K)

Gray has now left the coaching staff without much of a choice in regards to his next turn in the rotation. His season ERA inflamed to 5.56 after this latest debacle and is now 8-8 (W-L) on the season.

The Yankees are also 10-11 in games in which Gray starts and are 58-27 when there’s anyone else starting on the mound.

It’s important to note what also took place directly after he was removed from the game. Watching it on a television screen and seeing what it transpired to on social media led many to believe Gray was not totally dialed in … or may have thought no one was paying attention.

For some, it may be taken out of hand but in reality what it really looked like was a sarcastic grin of “I’m about to get another world of boos rained down on myself” as he gingerly walked off the mound.

And for good reason, as he should have been prepared. His lackluster of what you can call a performance, warrants change. Here he was after the game with reporters, courtesy of YES:

If his performance wasn’t enough, old racist tweets were discovered on Gray’s Twitter account—the very same one that mysteriously became deactivated while the Yankees were still playing.

What change is to come will be up to Aaron Boone and his coaching staff, but questions have already begun to take shape, for example in today’s postgame press conference:

Confirmed by Marc Craig:

It’s an idea that will now be toyed with for the next few days until a decision is handed down from the New York Yankees. With the addition of a Lance Lynn, the Yankees have the flexibility to either, remove Gray from the rotation and see him in a role similar to the way Lynn was used Wednesday, or the option of a six-man rotation that would prevent Gray from being on the mound as much as he is being deployed now.

The rest of the game also lacked effort much like the pitching performance did.

There were a couple of head-scratching plays committed by Gleyber Torres, but it was handled vividly by Yankees’ third base coach Phil Nevin during the rain delay. The Bombers were never able to dig out of the hole Gray put them in but did rally late in the ninth to make it into a 7-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

Baltimore now moves to 33-75 on this season and the Yankees fall to 68-38, and five and half back of Boston heading into Thursday’s series in Fenway.

It’s clearly not the way the Yankees wanted to take care of business the day before a potential season-changing four games with the Red Sox.

The Yankees are to open up with CC Sabathia (6-4 3.53 ERA) who has been what you call a “stopper” in days after the Yankees lose while Boston is to start Brian Johnson (1-3 3.45 ERA) in place of the injured Chris Sale, who hit the DL this week with a left shoulder inflammation.

For Gray and the Yankees, it looked all out of sorts on Wednesday. Sonny, more so than any other Bomber, has now begun a media frenzy surrounding the jeopardy of his next scheduled start.

One thing’s for certain … some type of change will be made.


I am currently enrolled at Montclair State University as a senior studying Sports Media and Journalism. I spend most of my days when I'm not at school; writing, podcasting, and preparing for my radio show. Thus meaning my life is sports. I spend almost all my time in and around sports because it is my life. I am an eternal, die-hard Yankees fan, along with Jets, Knicks and Rangers. I am 23 years of age and live in Central New Jersey (if people still consider a Central NJ).