BOSTON — Sonny Gray took the ball for the Red Sox on Patriots Day Monday, with Boston trying to stop a damaging slide against the Tigers in the finale of a three-game series at Fenway Park. First pitch was set for 11:10 a.m. ET.
The Red Sox entered at 8-13 and needed length from Gray, who came in 2-1 with a 4.43 ERA. Boston was 0-13 when its starter failed to get through six innings, but 8-0 when the pitcher lasted at least six. The assignment also offered Gray a quick chance to answer for his last outing, a 6-0 loss at Minnesota last Tuesday in which he allowed five runs on nine hits in four innings.
Gray had been better against Detroit than against most clubs, going 5-2 with a 2.41 ERA in 11 appearances, including 10 starts, against the Tigers. That matters for a Boston team that had already lost the second and third games of the series after taking the opener, and had scored only four runs through the first three games. The Red Sox also entered with a bigger pitching problem hanging over them: they had allowed 15 home runs over their previous eight games after giving up only two across the seven games before that stretch.
Jack Flaherty was listed as the starter for Detroit, which came in at 12-10 and had been 8-2 in day games. The matchup gave Boston a chance to reset before a three-game series against the Yankees beginning Tuesday, but it also put the Red Sox in the same bind that has followed them for much of April — they have not been able to afford a short start, and they have not been able to cover for one. Gray’s task was simple. Get deep enough to change that pattern.
If he did, Boston could leave Patriots Day with a little more than a stopgap win. If he did not, the numbers around the Red Sox would only get heavier heading into the Yankees series.
