The St. Louis Cardinals made plenty of noise this offseason, with Chaim Bloom stepping in as president of baseball operations and moving quickly through four major trades. One of the biggest sent right-hander Sonny Gray to the Boston Red Sox, and on Sunday night Gray showed exactly why that kind of arm is hard to replace.
Gray took the ball against the New York Yankees as Boston chased a sweep and carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning. He didn’t finish with the win, and the Red Sox had to rally to complete the sweep, but the outing was another reminder of the level he’s still bringing every fifth day.
The veteran right-hander was sharp from start to finish, striking out nine and allowing just one hit over 7 1/3 scoreless innings. The final punchout was the 2,000th strikeout of his career.
That kind of performance stood in stark contrast to what St. Louis is working with now.
The Cardinals got pitchers Brandon Clarke and Richard Fitts back in the deal, but both have had injury issues this season. And while the club is rebuilding, Gray’s departure left a hole that’s impossible to ignore when the rotation hasn’t held up.
St. Louis has a 4.19 ERA as a staff, the fifth-worst mark in the National League.
Without Gray, there isn’t an obvious ace at the top. The Cardinals have gotten efforts from Dustin May, Andre Pallante and Michael McGreevy, but that hasn’t been enough to keep the team in the mix for the rest of this season.
Gray, meanwhile, is 9-1 with a 2.69 ERA in 15 starts for Boston. The 36-year-old continues to bring the kind of swing-and-miss stuff the Cardinals’ staff largely lacks, since St.
Louis tends to pitch to contact more often than not. In the modern game, that’s a tough way to survive without a true front-line starter.
Trading Gray made sense as part of a rebuild, but the Cardinals are feeling the absence of that steadying presence right now. If the Red Sox wind up selling at the trade deadline, it would be interesting to see whether St.
Louis tries to bring him back. For now, Gray is giving Boston exactly what it needs, while the Cardinals are still searching for the arm they gave up.
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