BOSTON — Sonny Gray was back on the mound for the Red Sox in the rubber match against the Brewers on Wednesday, facing the club that had traded him away in February and trying to build on the first win he had delivered in a Boston uniform in his last start. Milwaukee countered with left-hander Shane Drohan, making his major league debut against his former organization after being called up from Triple-A Nashville on Monday.
The matchup arrived with both teams carrying sharp edges. Boston entered at 3-8 and had just snapped a three-game skid with a 3-2 win on Tuesday night, a game in which the Red Sox managed only three hits. Milwaukee came in at 8-3, but the Brewers were also juggling injuries, and manager Pat Murphy said Brice Turang was “playing on one leg” while dealing with a foot or ankle issue. Murphy said Turang probably was not headed for the injured list, adding that he had still helped the Brewers win by getting on base, playing defense and drawing walks.
Gray’s assignment mattered because Boston was still chasing its first series win, and the right-hander had a long enough track record against Milwaukee to make the start more than routine. He was 5-6 with a 4.55 ERA in 20 career starts against the Brewers, and the Red Sox gave him the ball after his victory in his last outing in team colors. Drohan, meanwhile, was working through the kind of debut that gives a game extra weight even before the first pitch: he had not faced any Boston batters before Wednesday, and he arrived in the majors only after Jared Koenig went on the 15-day injured list.
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His path to the game has been anything but simple. Boston acquired Drohan in February from Milwaukee with pitcher Kyle Harrison and infielder David Hamilton for infielders Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler, a swap that put him on the opposite side of this series before he had even thrown a pitch in the big leagues. Drohan had one start this season at Triple-A Nashville, allowing two runs on three hits in 3 1/3 innings without a decision, after going 5-1 with a 2.27 ERA in 12 games for Worcester last season. He also spent spring training with Milwaukee, going 1-2 with a 4.26 ERA in four outings.
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That left the Brewers - Red Sox matchup with a particular tension: one side trying to turn a single win into a series, the other giving a debut to a pitcher who had already worn both organizations’ colors in the span of a few months. Gray had the experience and the numbers. Drohan had the unfamiliarity and the moment. For Boston, the question was whether a team that had scraped out a one-run win with almost no offense could finally turn a narrow opening into something more lasting.
