Gray is 50 Shades of Wrong In Yanks 8-3 Thrashing ofOakland

     Hoping to pitch well in his hometown, the Mission Viejo native C.C. Sabathia lead the New York Yankees to their second straight victory tonight over the struggling Sonny Gray and the Oakland Athletics. Sabathia hoped to build off of his last outing, where he pitched his best game of the year, a win against the rival Orioles.  Despite winning 14 games last season, Sonny Gray has really struggled this season, to the tune of a 3-4 record, with an ERA of 5.84, and an even more alarming ERA over 10 in his last four starts. Gray's sub-par 2016 would continue tonight as he and a variety of Oakland miscues led to the Yankees 10th victory in their last 15 games.
     Oakland actually hit the scoreboard first tonight in the bottom of the second inning when Matt McBride lined a two out single that drove in Billy Butler, who had walked earlier in the frame. But, The Bombers would counter quickly as their bats really came to life against Gray, Who had thrown 70 pitches by the end of the third. In the top of the fourth, Gray allowed a one-out walk to Aaron Hicks that was followed by a single off the bat of Didi Gregorius. Utility man Ronald Torreyes tripled both runners in when he lined a ball to center field that was misread by Coco Crisp, in what was the first of several miscues by the Oakland Athletics. After Elsbury reached first on a catchers interference call, Gray threw A wild pitch to Brett Gardner that got by the catcher Stephen Vogt, scoring Torreyes from third, 3-1, and moved Jacoby up to second base. Then, after walking Gardner, Grey threw another pitch in the dirt that advanced Elsbury to third. Beltran would send Gray to the showers when he ripped Gray's 100th pitch of the game that was again misread and over the head of Crisp, scoring both Ellsbury and Gardner, 5-1 New York.
    Sabathia was phenomenal in his return off the DL and in front of a multitude of friends and family tonight. He would go on to allow only the one run in six innings of work, giving up just three hits while striking out a season-high eight batters. Needing a night to rest the back end of the bullpen, The Yankee offense gave their former ace plenty of runs to work with, allowing the three headed monster to get some much needed rest. In fact, the big left-hander is134-6 in his career when receiving six or more runs from his offense.
     The Yankee on slot would continue against the worst bullpen in the majors. In the top of the sixth, Ryan Dull allowed a leadoff single to Brett Gardner, who scored the Yankees sixth run of the game when Carlos Beltran struck for his second RBI-double of the night. Oakland, too, would score off of the Yankees bullpen as they tried to embark on a come back that was not to be. In the bottom of the seventh, Kirby Yates served up a two-out double to Coco crisp that scored Tyler Ladendirf from first base, 6-2, New York. The Yankees would get that run back in the top of the ninth when Jacoby Ellsbury hit his third triple of the season, scoring Torreyes and Gregorius, making it an 8-2 game. The A's would add one more in the bottom of the ninth, leading to a final score of 8-3.
     The Yankees had big nights on both sides of the ball, getting their third consecutive quality outing from there starting pitcher and recording 13 hits tonight, making them 12-1 this season when they record 10 or more base hits. Let's hope we see more of the same from both the offense and from Masahiro Tanaka tomorrow as they go for their fourth consecutive victory, with first pitch scheduled for 4:05 PM ET.