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What Red Sox’ Sonny Gray told Alex Cora between sixth and seventh innings
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- What Red Sox’ Sonny Gray told Alex Cora between sixth and seventh innings
BOSTON — Starting pitcher Sonny Gray returned to the Red Sox dugout after retiring his 10th straight hitter to end the top of the sixth inning.
At 78 pitches, he was ready to pitch more. That was his message to manager Alex Cora.
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“I just said that I have another zero in me if you need it,” Gray recalled. “I didn’t know where our bullpen really stood or where we were at. I just said, ‘I have another zero if you need it.’ And he said, ‘Are you sure?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’”
Gray returned for one more out in the seventh inning and earned the win in Boston’s 5-0 victory over the Brewers at Fenway Park .
The 36-year-old pitched 6 ⅓ scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out two.
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“Then in the seventh, he made the decision,” Gray said. “I faced the first two and then I came out and Greg ( Weissert ) came in and shut it down.”
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Gray received a standing ovation and tipped his cap to fans as he walked to the dugout. He said that was nice but he would have liked to make it through eight innings.
“I want to come off and then Sweet Caroline starts playing,” Gray said.
Sweet Caroline plays between the top and bottom of the eighth inning.
“So that’s something that I’m looking forward to doing at some point,” he said.
Gray improved to 50-35 with a 3.26 ERA in 128 career day games (124 starts). He joked about why he pitches so well during day games.
“I’m old. Maybe. I get up early,” Gray said. “I have no problem getting up in the morning and getting going. I’m used to getting up and getting the kids ready and taking them to school and catching them on the bus and I don’t mind getting up. Maybe. I’m just old.”
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He escaped a jam in the third inning. With two runners in scoring position and two outs, he struck out Jake Bauers to end the inning. He retired 10 straight batters starting with Bauers’ strikeouts and ending when he walked Gary Sánchez to lead off the seventh inning.
He recorded seven swings and misses, including two each with his cutter, curveball and sweeper, and one with his four-seam fastball.
Gray wanted to put his team in a good mood for its flight to St. Louis this evening.
“I was just thinking, ‘happy flight,’” he said. “You want to win on getaway day. I watched Beast ( Garrett Crochet ) last night and then the game was over and it was like, ‘OK. It’s my turn to just go out there and just keep it going.’ ... Just overall, it was a great game last night and then to continue that into today, it was just a good finish to the homestand.”
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