Cardinals' Sonny Gray eyes days ahead after 'laboring' start ends another 'tough' July

The increased usage of his changeup during a Tuesday start against the Marlins was a result Cardinals starter Sonny Gray said had less to do with his plan to attack opposing hitters and more to do with what he could deal on a sweltering July night at Busch Stadium.

Gray used his changeup 15 times, matching a season high for its usage, per Statcast. The pitch made up 16% of his pitch usage vs. the Marlins after it made up 7% of his pitch usage through his first 21 starts of the season.

The offspeed pitch helped Gray get through five innings as he allowed three runs and eight hits in the Cardinals’ 5-0 loss to finish off what has been another rugged July in the three-time All-Star’s career.

“No, I threw that more tonight because that’s, I’m being honest, I’m struggling in the heat to grip anything,” Gray said. “I threw a changeup early and was like, ‘Well, this kind of slips out anyway, so maybe this is something that I can just use.’ Tonight, that was just one of those things where it’s like, ‘Well, alright, let’s see if we can use this a little bit.’ That wasn’t anything. That was just, I think, more or less, that was just something that I felt like I could throw and it’d be decent.”

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Gray allowed two runs in the second inning on a homer to Graham Pauley and had a third run score against him in the fifth inning on a two-out single by Otto Lopez. Gray struck out five batters and issued one walk in a loss that dropped the Cardinals to 55-54. He needed 91 pitches to get through an outing that began with a game-time temperature of 93 degrees.

“It’s tough to grip anything,” Gray said. “Everything’s wet. … It is a real challenge. It’s something that I’ve tried to overcome in the past years prior just throughout my career.”

While Gray worked through traffic, Cardinals hitters were kept to three hits, three walks, and struck out four times against Miami starter and former Cardinal Sandy Alcantara. Alcantara, the National League’s Cy Young award winner in 2022, was aided by a sliding grab in center field from Javier Sonoja to record an inning-ending flyout of Alec Burleson that left runners on first and third base in the third inning.

Alcantara recorded an inning-ending strikeout of Burleson in the fifth to leave the bases loaded as he helped the Marlins shut out the Cardinals for the first time at Busch Stadium since June 18, 2019.

“In the first, you can tell he was feeling his way through it… and then he settled in after that,” Cardinals manager said of Alcantara. “The velo ticked up to 97 (mph). Some 99s. The changeup was real. 92 (mph), 93 (mph). He did a nice job with it at the bottom of the zone and kept us from doing a whole lot.”

In relief of Gray, Steven Matz allowed two runs in one inning. Matz, who is a trade candidate ahead of Thursday’s deadline, was set for just the one inning despite some confusion for what Marmol attributed to not a “miscommunication with calling down to the bullpen.”

John King could not complete his lone inning of work in the ninth after leaving for what he said was “precautionary” due to tightness on his left side. King said he will be reevaluated Wednesday for what Marmol hopes may have been cramps and not an oblique injury.

“We’re just going to sleep on it and then talk more tomorrow,” King said.

For Gray, the three runs and eight hits he allowed on Tuesday wrapped a July during which he went 2-3 with a 7.81 ERA in 27 2/3 innings over six starts. Gray’s July began with four runs allowed in 6 1/3 innings during a start in Pittsburgh and reached a midpoint with a start at home vs. the Braves, which was shortened to three innings because of a rain delay on the final day before the All-Star break.

He came out of the break by surrendering a career-high nine runs and 11 hits in his first start of the second half vs. the Diamondbacks at Chase Field and followed that by surrendering 11 hits and seven runs at home against the Padres. Opposing hitters batted .347 against him as his ERA grew from 3.36 following a complete game shutout in Cleveland to end June to 4.38 after his final start of July.

“Still, not great. A little sluggish. … I didn’t have great stuff, and then to give up the extra one in the fifth with two outs, nobody on that one was kind of tough,” Gray said. “Overall, I felt okay. Yeah, that was kind of it. I’m just ready to get to some, probably, a little cooler weather, to be honest with you. It’s tough.”

With his start against Miami, Gray has a 4.19 ERA for his career in July, marking his worst month-by-month split over 13 seasons in the majors. In 14 games with a temperature of 90 degrees or above, including Tuesday’s, he owns a 4.46 ERA. Across his time in the majors, he’s followed July with a 2.81 ERA in August and had a 4.07 ERA over 53 regular-season games in September and October.

“I thought he competed well through the conditions,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Gray’s Tuesday start. “You can tell he was kind of laboring through that outing, but he gave us everything he had in order to give us a look at it. … If you look at, I mean, overall, I feel like when you look at his career, especially last several years, July hasn’t treated him well, but he bounces back and does a really nice job. We’re looking forward to that next one.”

Photos: Miami Marlins shutout St. Louis Cardinals 5-0