NEW YORK (AP) — Sonny Gray will have to save Boston's season on the mound where his big league career derailed.
With the Red Sox trailing after losing the opener of the best-of-three Wild Card Series against the Yankees 9-0, Gray will face a fan base on Wednesday night that gave him the Bronx brush-off in 2017 and 2018.
“There’s a lot of people and a lot of players that can have one bump in the road and not get back on the tracks,” he said Tuesday. “And for me, there’s been bumps along the way and that may have been a little bit of a bigger bump than others.”
Approaching his 37th birthday, Gray tied for the major league lead with 18 wins this year along with a 2.72 ERA, his best in a full season. He took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning against the Yankees at Fenway Park in June as the Red Sox completed a four-game sweep that sparked their turnaround from a 32-46 start to an 87-75 record and a playoff berth.
Gray has pitched at Yankee Stadium twice since leaving the team and done well both times. Most recently, he pitched three-run ball over 6 1/3 innings in Boston’s 5-3 win in the Bronx on June 5.
“He’s had a great career, and someone who I was never super comfortable facing,” Red Sox teammate Trevor Story said. “He’s a pitcher to its finest degree.”
Gray reached a nadir in New York before rebounding. He's been an All-Star twice since and has 143 wins over 14 seasons.
“Anytime he’s out there, we feel good about it," Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said. “But having him out there tomorrow, obviously the season’s on the line for us, and he can handle that.”
He was 15-16 with a 4.52 ERA for the Yankees, who acquired him from Oakland in July 2017. He notoriously was dropped from the rotation in August 2018 after he smirked when fans booed as he walked off the Yankee Stadium mound in the third inning of a 7-5 loss to Baltimore.
Gray had a 6.98 ERA at Yankee Stadium in 2018 and a 3.17 ERA on the road.
“It’s kind of like one of those things that you have a snowball or whatever, right?” Gray said. “There’s a snowball that kind of starts rolling down a hill. If you don’t ever stop it, then the snowball just gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and it picks up traction and it just gets more snow. And it just continues to go down this thing. And then the bigger the snowball gets, the harder it is to stop it or take a step back.
"And for me, it just took me to get away and get myself into a different environment and then reflect on those things.”
Pitching for Cincinnati (2019-21), Minnesota (2022-23) and St. Louis (2024-25) revived his career. Then he was traded to the Red Sox last November, putting him in position to pitch for the Yankees' biggest rival.
"New York was, it just wasn’t a good situation for me, wasn’t a great setup for me and my family,” he said during a December Zoom news conference. “I never wanted to go there in the first place.”
Now he'll be back, trying to outpitch the Yankees' Max Fried and extend the first-round series to a decisive third game.
“I do know that playing here made me a stronger person, made me a better man, a better husband," he said. “Ultimately, it made me a better pitcher, a better baseball player.”
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Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Sonny Gray delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Michael King allowed his first hit with one out in the seventh inning of the San Diego Padres ' Wild Card Series opener against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.
Nico Hoerner hit a grounder down the third base line, and Manny Machado stopped it but couldn't transfer the ball in time to make a throw. Petco Park gave a loud ovation to King after the end of his bid for the first postseason no-hitter in Padres history — and King struck out his next two batters, ending it with a nasty changeup to Carson Kelly and another standing ovation.
King yielded just three walks in the first six innings of his third career playoff start, and another Cubs batter reached on an error by shortstop Xander Bogaerts. The veteran right-hander didn't allow any runners to score, and he struck out eight while the Padres stormed to a 7-0 lead over Chicago through 6 1/2 innings.
The 31-year-old King was the obvious choice to start the Padres' opener in their fifth playoff trip over the past seven seasons. He went 12-10 with a 3.21 ERA over 32 starts in the regular season, providing a steady presence and a 1.18 WHIP.
King showed how fired up he was for this playoff opportunity when he began the game by striking out probable NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong on three pitches. King threw a fastball during the at-bat that hit 97.6 mph — his fastest pitch in a Padres uniform.
King also struck out Alex Bregman in the first. Seiya Suzuki reached on Bogaerts' awful throw in the second and eventually advanced to third, but no farther.
Crow-Armstrong walked and stole second in the third inning, but King struck out Bregman again to end it. Suzuki drew a walk in the fourth, but couldn't advance.
King spent his first four full major league seasons with the Yankees, largely as a reliever. He was traded to San Diego in December 2023 as part of the seven-player deal for Juan Soto, and King has been a solid rotation member for the Padres ever since.
King made his first postseason start two years ago for the Padres in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series against Atlanta, four years after his postseason debut with the Yankees. He racked up 12 strikeouts against the Braves over seven innings of five-hit ball in a 4-0 victory.
King was slowed by injuries last season, and he made just one appearance in the Padres' tough three-game loss to the Cubs in the Wild Card Series. He re-signed with San Diego in the offseason and emerged as the most dependable starter in a turnover-plagued rotation.
King's excellence aside, the 91-win Padres jumped all over the Cubs and starter Matthew Boyd in the series opener at raucous Petco.
Fernando Tatis Jr. hit San Diego's first postseason leadoff homer on Boyd's first pitch, and Machado added another first-inning homer and a third-inning RBI double. Bogaerts homered in the fourth, and Jackson Merrill added a two-run single in the fifth to break it open.
The Padres have thrown just two no-hitters in the history of a franchise that began play in 1969 — and both of them happened in the past six seasons.
Joe Musgrove, a surprise addition to San Diego's current postseason roster Tuesday after missing the past two regular seasons while recovering from Tommy John surgery, made history for his hometown team by blanking Texas on April 9, 2021.
Dylan Cease followed on July 25, 2024, by no-hitting Washington.
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
San Diego Padres pitcher Michael King (34) delivers against the Chicago Cubs in the sixth inning of Game 1 of the National League Wild Card baseball playoff series Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
San Diego Padres pitcher Michael King (34) throws in the first inning of Game 1 of the National League Wild Card baseball playoff series against the Chicago Cubs Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
San Diego Padres pitcher Michael King delivers against the Chicago Cubs in the sixth inning of Game 1 of the National League Wild Card baseball playoff series Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
San Diego Padres pitcher Michael King (34) throws in the first inning of Game 1 of the National League Wild Card baseball playoff series against the Chicago Cubs Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
