MLB

The Yankees can actually blame Sonny Gray this time

This was a gameš’ŠŽ the Yankees got Sonny Gray to win.

Matching up against a reeling Baltimore team and struggling right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez, Gray instead came up with his worst performance as a Yankee, giving up five runs in just fouąµ²r innings in a 6-4 loss in The Bronx on Sunday.

ā€œI donā€™t think I threw enough strikes and Iš’ couldnā€™t get the ball down,ā€™ā€™ Gray said following his shortest start oą·“f the season. ā€œThe first three innings, I had two outs and couldnā€™t finish, and the same thing happened in the fourth. I didnā€™t give up the big hit until the fourth.ā€™ā€™

That big hit was a three-run homer by Tim ā™‹Beckham.

With one on and twoā™‰ out, Gray allowed a sinļ·½gle to Caleb Joseph and then a wild pitch moved both runners up a base.

Beckham came up next and drilled a three-run shot to left-center off a hanging slider to give BaltimšŸ„ƒore a 5-1 lead.

ā€œI thought my stuff wasnā€™t as sharp from the get-go, and it caught up to me in the fourth,ā€™ā€™ Gray said. ā€œThat was tough to see and tough to go through.ā€™ā€™

Joe Girardi removed him after the inning, since it had taken GrašŸŒøy 80 pitches to get through four innings.

It was a stark difference from his previous outing, when Gray held the Rays to two runs over eight innings — although that game ended in a loss, as well.

In Grayā€™s nine outings since joining the Yankees from Oakland, the Yankees are 3-6. Much of that is due to poor run support, since the Yankees Ü«entered Sunday having scored either one or no runs for the right-hander in five of his eight starts.

This time, though, the issue was primarily Gray.

ā€œSome days šŸ¤Ŗare gonna be better than others,ā€™ā€™ Girardi said. ā€œHe got some ground balls that were just out of reach of some of our infielders and then the breaking ball he hung to Beckham. ā€¦ He didnā€™t seem to haveź§™ his normal command.ā€