ST. LOUIS -- To get back to being the ace that the Cardinals signed him to be prior to the 2024 season, Sonny Gray is aware that he must figure out ways to get his straight stuff to be as effective as his devastating sweeper and wipeout curveball have been this season.
On Monday, Gray took a major step toward that goal by effectively mixing his pitches and silencing the red-hot Tigers in an 11-4 win by St. Louis at Busch Stadium.
Coming off an outing in Philadelphia last Wednesday where he allowed eight hits, seven earned runs and three home runs, Gray bounced back in a big way on Monday by limiting the Tigers to just three hits over six scoreless innings. Gray, who improved to 17-1 with the Cardinals when they give him three runs or more of support, struck out 10. It is the first time he’s done that in 2025, the fourth time he’s done it in a Cardinals uniform and the 18th double-digit-strikeout game of his MLB career.
“That start [in Philadelphia] was Top 3 or Top 4 worst starts in my career … and in the past I’d let that maybe lead into the next one and the next one,” said Gray, who improved to 5-1 and lowered his ERA to 4.02. “But I’ve been through that and I’ve seen it happen. The worst thing you can do after something like that is live and die by it.
“The next day, I told everyone that I wanted to erase that start from my memory. I’ve thrown the ball well this whole year, and I’m not putting any thought into that [last start], and I didn’t.”
The Cardinals got three hits from Brendan Donovan and two-hit nights from Iván Herrera, Alec Burleson, Masyn Winn and Lars Nootbaar for their 22nd double-digit-hit game of the season. That ties them with the Tigers for first in MLB. Donovan has a National League-leading 61 hits, Nootbaar leads the Cardinals with 21 multihit games and Herrera extended his hitting streak to nine on a 16-hit night for the Redbirds.
“We have a team plan, and we’ve done a good job of sticking to that plan and not giving at-bats away, because this game is wild,” said Donovan, who has eight games with at least three hits this season, with four of them coming in the past five games. “It’s happened to me before where I don’t get the job done and then the guy behind me picks me up. It’s a close-knit group, and it’s been fun to see it come together this year.”
Added manager Oliver Marmol, whose Cardinals came into the game second in the Majors in batting average (.262) and fifth in OBP (.334): “There are times to slug and there’s times to hit, and our team has done a nice job when you look at our on-base percentage and overall average when compared to the league. We’ve done a nice job of just being good hitters, and then there are times when you take your shots, and we were able to blow the game open.”
Gray, 35, came into Monday limiting hitters to a .134 average, .268 slugging and just three home runs this season on at-bats that end with sweepers or curveballs. However, hitters have feasted on Gray’s four-seam fastballs, cutters and sinkers to the tune of a .320 batting average, .490 slugging and four long balls. On Monday, Gray got seven of his 10 strikeouts on sweepers and curveballs and Detroit hitters were 0-for-9 on at-bats that ended on those pitches. Two of the three hits allowed came on fastballs -- the other was off a changeup -- but Gray limited the Tigers to 2-for-11 hitting against his straight stuff.
“I think I used [the variety of fastballs] more early and I tried to put them in good spots and get back to my strengths with those pitches,” said Gray, who only allowed one runner to reach second base over his six innings. “Getting back to my strengths with those [fastballs] allows me to get to the curveball, get to the sweeper and some of the other things I throw.
“Throwing my fastball in the right spots and with conviction -- you do that enough and you can force the hitter’s hand to make a decision. But if you’re not putting [fastballs] in the right spot, you’re not forcing their hand to make decisions as much.”
Asked afterward about Gray’s dominance on the mound, Donovan said, “Oh man, I’m glad I was on defense. He was locked in from the start, getting swing-and-miss, landing strikes early and attacking. When you see that from him and we scratch one [run], I was like, ‘All right, we’re going to get this one.’”