Royals Slugger Praises Sonny Gray After Dominant Outing

Sonny Gray had arguably the best start of his Boston Red Sox tenure on Monday in the team’s 3-1 win over the Kansas City Royals.

Gray was dominant as he went six-plus innings, allowing one run on five hits, while striking out nine. It was a stellar outing from the right-hander, and Royals slugger Vinnie Pasquantino was impressed with how the veteran right-hander pitched in the series opener.

“He spins the crap out of the ball, and he had the breaking ball working all night, running underneath the zone, and we were biting on it,” Pasquantino said postgame on Monday. “He was able to throw the cutter in to lefties. He was backing up the sinker with two strikes. He just did a nice job. We didn’t do enough.”

Pasquantino finished the game going 0-for-4, while he struck out twice, but only once to Gray. The slugger felt like Gray did a good job with the way he sequenced and the spin on the ball was stellar.

Red Sox’s interim manager Chad Tracy was also impressed with how Gray pitched on Monday to lead Boston to the series opener win.

“The same as we’ve seen the last two outings,” Tracy said. “Just in complete control, in and out, up, down, changing speeds. Had a nice front-door sinker, running it back on lefties, catching the inside corner. He was sensational.”

Since coming back from the injured list, Gray is 3-0 with a 1.06 ERA in three starts.

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