Sonny Gray is having his best season as a professional, but the Oakland Athletics star will have to put it on hold, at least temporarily, as he missed Thursday’s start.
Continue for updates.
Gray’s Status Improving
Friday, Aug. 14
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported Gray is feeling much better after throwing for about 15 minutes on Friday. Slusser added that it’s possible for Gray to start in the team’s upcoming series. Jane Lee of MLB.com reported the earliest Gray would start is Monday.
Gray added, per Slusser, that he was excited to face Kershaw in the start the he missed, but didn’t want to put his team in a bad position.
Gray, 25, made his first All-Star team this season and has been one of the lone bright spots for an Oakland team that has struggled this year, establishing himself as a clear No. 1 starter. He showed his promise a year ago, going 14-10 with a 3.08 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP and 183 strikeouts in 219 innings, but this season, he’s proved to be one of the American League‘s top arms.
In 23 starts, the 2011 first-round pick is 12-4 with a 2.06 ERA, a 0.96 WHIP and 136 punch-outs in 161.2 innings, making him a leading candidate for the American League Cy Young Award.
“You never know which Sonny is going to show up,” Athletics first baseman Ike Davis said of the team’s ace before the All-Star Game, per John Hickey of InsideBayArea.com. “Sometimes it’s All-Star Sonny. Sometimes it’s Cy Young Sonny.”
That makes the loss devastating for a team that’s already struggling this year. Gray’s starts are the team’s best chances at victory, and his continued development and ascension to stardom has been one of the reasons why the Athletics aren’t worse than their 51-64 record indicates.
A playoff berth is highly unlikely regardless of Gray’s status with Oakland currently nine games back in the wild-card race. If the dominant righty is unable to return soon, though, any remaining excitement surrounding the team will essentially be gone.
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