ST. LOUIS — Sonny Gray knew exactly how his first outing in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform would end.
With two on and one out in the top of the fifth inning and Gray’s previously established pitch count of 65 fast approaching, Gray understood Philadelphia Phillies No. 9 hitter Johan Rojas would be his final batter — if manager Oli Marmol allowed it. The Cardinals led 1-0, and Gray, sitting at 62 pitches, did not have much room for leeway. As Rojas approached the batter’s box, Marmol ascended the dugout steps and made his way to the mound.
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He didn’t motion toward the bullpen for a pitching change. Instead, he gathered with Gray on the mound and posed two questions.
“How do you feel? Is (Rojas) your guy?” Marmol asked.
“Absolutely,” Gray responded. “This is what we’re going to do. He’s going to hit a groundball, we’re going to turn a double play and we’re going to get out of this inning.”
Two pitchers later and the Cardinals did precisely that.
Pitching for weak contact on the ground, Gray spun two sinkers away from Rojas. On the second one, Rojas rolled over and tapped a groundball to Masyn Winn at shortstop, who fed it to Nolan Gorman at second, who fired a seed to Paul Goldschmidt at first base to nail Rojas by half a step.
Double play. Inning over.Just how they drew it up.
Game Rewind: Sonny in St. Louis. #STLCards pic.twitter.com/04mFYxlDr4
— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) April 10, 2024
A little late and somewhat limited, Gray’s debut with the Cardinals was worth the wait. Gray stumped a potent Phillies lineup, posting five shutout innings with no walks and five strikeouts en route to picking up the win in Tuesday night’s 3-0 victory. It was a concerted and convincing team effort, one sparked by Gray and sustained by another commendable outing by the bullpen. JoJo Romero had a career-high four strikeouts over two innings of relief and Ryan Helsley registered his National League-leading fourth save. Gorman’s third home run of the year — a solo shot to center field in the bottom of the fourth — put the Cardinals on the board, and situational hitting and small ball from the bottom of the lineup led to two insurance runs in the fifth.
Nolan Gorman is heating up 🔥 #STLCards
Watch on Bally Sports, https://t.co/qndToVtUKF and the Bally Sports app. pic.twitter.com/5hyEts09l1
— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) April 10, 2024
Roughly one month after straining his right hamstring in his second spring training start, Gray showed every indication of being the pitcher the Cardinals need him to be this year. Gray did not pitch in a live game during his rehab assignment but built his arm strength up to the 60-pitches range by throwing in a simulated game in Springfield last week. After multiple conversations with Marmol, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and pitching coach Dusty Blake, the team decided to start Gray on a pitch count. They trusted the 34-year-old’s assertion that he was “100 percent himself and ready to go.”
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Gray responded by proving those sentiments.
“I just felt at home, to be honest with you,” Gray said to reporters after the game. “I felt more calm, cool, collected, confident today than I probably have in any of the rehab outings, sim (games), live (bullpen sessions). I just felt at home.”
The Cardinals had carefully constructed several game plans based on how Gray managed his pitch count. The best-case scenario for St. Louis was for Gray to record five innings — a tall order for a pitcher who was not to exceed 65 pitches and had not pitched in a true game in 36 days. But Gray utilized an effective six-pitch arsenal, headlined by the mix of his sinker, curveball and sweeper (though Gray prefers to term it a slider) and took advantage of another strong defensive performance from the Cardinals infield and breezed through four innings.
With the Cardinals holding a one-run lead and Gray at 53 pitches, Gray and Marmol had a conversation before he took the mound in the fifth.
“‘Don’t let me do anything stupid here,'” Gray recalled telling his manager. “I felt great, the ball was coming out good and the game situation, the way the game was playing out, I wanted to stay in as long as can. (But) we had a plan, don’t let me do anything stupid.”
Gray assured Marmol he would have a quick inning. Marmol trusted him all the way.
“Everyone’s pretty excited to see him walk off on his own,” Marmol said. “The fact that he was able to do it within his limit of 65 and give you five innings, I mean people were pretty pumped. I was pretty pumped.”
“What he did today was pretty incredible,” Marmol added. “There is a lot to be excited about with having him healthy again. He hasn’t pitched in front of a crowd in a while, and to go out there and control his overall emotions and not try to do much — he was under control the whole time, landed six pitches for strikes. That was pretty dominant. It was a lot of fun to watch.”
Sonny Gray's first strikeout in Cardinal Red!#ForTheLou pic.twitter.com/q3w9XpriCq
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 9, 2024
The Cardinals certainly felt the same. Fueled by their ace, they locked down an impressive win — arguably their best of the early season.
“It just feels good to be back and to be around the guys for the last week and to watch them compete,” Gray said. “To learn from them, learn how they compete, use the energy of everyone else in the clubhouse and use it to your advantage. That’s it for me.”
(Photo: Jeff Curry / USA Today)
Katie Woo is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the St. Louis Cardinals and Major League Baseball. Prior to joining The Athletic, Katie spent two years covering the minor leagues as an editorial producer for MiLB.com and spent the 2018 MLB season covering the San Diego Padres as an associate reporter for MLB.com. She is a graduate of Arizona State University and originates from Northern California. Follow Katie on Twitter @katiejwoo
