Reds’ Gray feels good in rehab start in Louisville

No one is more superstitious than baseball players, and in this case, Gray’s thinking paid off. The Reds scored twice. Those turned out to be the winning runs in a 5-3 victory against the Pirates at Great American Ball Park. The Reds won their third straight game since an 11-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Opening Day and improved to 3-1, their best record through four games since 2017.

That the Reds have thrived in the first week of the season without Gray is a good sign. He suffered a muscle strain in his back in March and has worked his way back to the point that he was able to make a rehab start Monday at the Reds’ alternate training site in Louisville.

Gray allowed two earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out six. He threw 60 pitches.

“I felt great,” Gray said. “I treated it as close to like a normal start as I could. It was nice to get out with umpires in the game. I felt really, really good. I think it was needed for sure. I was ready to roll. I think it went very well. I was very pleased with how I threw the ball.”

The Reds have not decided what’s next for Gray. How many more rehab starts will he need before he returns to the Reds? That’s a question for the coming days.

“Last night went really well,” manager David Bell said Tuesday before the second game of the series against the Pirates. “I just got finished talking to him. He felt great right from the beginning all the way through his entire outing. He said his stuff was really good. He was challenged with some bunts for hits. He had to make some plays. Everything couldn’t have gone better for him last night.”

Without Gray in the Reds rotation, other starters have stepped up. Jose De Leon allowed two earned runs on three hits Monday. Jeff Hoffman allowed one earned run on three hits in five innings Sunday. Tyler Mahle allowed two earned runs on four hits in five innings Saturday.

“It’s the mark of being a team,” Bell said. “It’s going to take all us. Sonny is a big part of our pitching staff. We know that. We can’t wait to get him back. You can make the most of an opportunity and step up and pick the team up. It increases depth and creates more of a team. We’ve seen that early on. Guys have had big games the first time around this rotation. Our bullpen has done a good job as well.

This was Gray’s first appearance since March 4 when he allowed one run and two innings in what would turn out to be his first and last Cactus League appearance of the spring.

Gray pitched in the first of 19 scrimmages the Reds will have this month. The games will feature some of the Reds’ top prospects and other players on the 40-man roster.

Gray pitched against players from the Kansas City Royals organization. There will also be scrimmages against players from the Cleveland Indians and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations. The scrimmages will continue until the Louisville Bats start the Triple-A season on May 4.

One plus for Gray was pitching in front of fans. The Bats, who did not play at all in 2020 because the Minor League Baseball season was cancelled by the pandemic, are selling tickets to the scrimmages.

“It seemed like the fans were very excited,” Gray said. “I think they felt like they were very happy to be here. I think baseball is something that’s bringing a lot of joy to people. It’s so nice to see smiling faces in the stands. It was a really good feeling to hear your name, to get the applause, to get the boos. to hear the kids telling you to strike this dude out. Then I gave up the homer, and I hear them saying, ‘You should have thrown the curveball.’”