ARLINGTON -- Sonny Gray likes being the guy who takes the mound following a bad loss or in the midst of a tough stretch. As an ace, those are the moments to shine the brightest.
Gray did just that on Saturday afternoon, throwing seven scoreless innings and striking out 10 in leading the Cardinals to a 2-0 victory over the Rangers at Globe Life Field. It put Friday’s 11-1 loss in the rearview mirror quickly.
“We needed it,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “That was a very confident start. … To give us seven [innings] with 10 punchouts? Solid.”
Marmol raved about Gray’s sweeper throughout the day, as it paved the way for eight of the 10 strikeouts.
Gray improved to 6-1 on the season with an ace-worthy performance. He retired nine straight at one point, including striking out the side in the third inning. In the fifth, Gray found himself in a jam as the Rangers had two baserunners reach, but he ended that threat by getting Kyle Higashioka to fly out to center.
Gray faced traffic again in the seventh, giving up a one-out single to Alejandro Osuna, but he finished his outing by striking out Jake Burger and getting Sam Haggerty to ground out. The strikeout of Burger was the 1,800th for Gray, who is one of just 10 active players to reach that mark.
Gray matched his season high in strikeouts, as he also had 10 against Detroit on May 19. The four hits given up by Gray were all singles.
Gray pointed to a few defensive plays that helped him along the way, including catcher Pedro Pagés throwing out Osuna trying to steal second in the second inning.
“That’s a huge momentum killer for them, momentum builder for us,” Gray said. “Overall, we needed a good bounceback today after last night. We all came out and did that.”
Gray has turned in three quality starts since allowing seven runs in 3 2/3 innings during a frustrating start in Philadelphia on May 14.
“I feel like I’ve been making strides in a good direction the last couple of times out,” Gray said. “I just feel like, even after my last outing, I felt very good about how I threw the ball and how the ball is coming out of my hand. We took another step forward today. We had a really good plan going into today, executed it pretty well.”
With Gray throwing a gem, the offense’s two runs were enough. The Cardinals scored a run in the second as Willson Contreras drew a leadoff walk and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Nolan Arenado. Contreras drove in a run in the fourth, ripping a ground-rule double down the left-field line to score Masyn Winn.
The victory capped a terrific May for the Cardinals, as they finished the month with a 19-8 record. It’s the best month of baseball for St. Louis since it went 22-7 in August 2022. It’s the Cardinals’ best May since 2013, when they went 20-7.
The club’s month was highlighted by a nine-game winning streak, sweeps over the Pirates, Nationals and Diamondbacks, and of course, Gray’s gem on Saturday.
Phil Maton worked a scoreless eighth and Ryan Helsley had a perfect ninth to finish off what Gray started. Helsley had an MLB-leading nine saves in May, a month that has unquestionably sparked the Cardinals’ season.
“Coming into spring, I think outside of the clubhouse, there weren’t a lot of high hopes for our team,” Helsley said. “But we wanted to set the standard on the first day of spring that we still expect to win and be competitive. Everybody has done that, and everybody has wanted to get better. It’s been a lot of fun to go out there and play freely, and watch the guys do their thing. The offense has been scoring runs like crazy, and the defense has been playing really well, and the bullpen has been throwing well too.
“Just all across the board, playing good baseball. It’s been a lot of fun to be a part of.”