Sonny day: Gray dominates vs. White Sox

CINCINNATI -- Prior to Wednesday, the famously offense-friendly Great American Ball Park had hosted just three games that were scoreless through nine innings -- and none in more than a decade. In what proved to be a refreshing duel of pitchers, Sonny Gray gave the Reds seven scoreless innings while Dallas Keuchel did likewise for the White Sox in the two-game series finale.

Each gave up only two hits. Gray had an inkling the day could go this way. When he was with Oakland, he battled a few times against Keuchel during his time with the Astros.

“I talked to him briefly yesterday to see where he was at. I knew that he was going to come in ready to roll today,” Gray said. “We’ve just done it too much. We’ve just done it so many times that I know where he’s at. He’s great, man.”

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When neither starter could break the stalemate, it ultimately was settled in extra innings. Cincinnati broke the deadlock in the bottom of the 10th inning when Jesse Winker hit an RBI single to give his club a 1-0 walk-off win that split the series.

The last time the Reds hosted a game that was scoreless after nine innings was May 30, 2010, vs. the Astros. The other two were on June 10, 2007, vs. Cleveland and June 14, 2006, against the Brewers.

“I just knew I had to come in and do a job today and give our guys a chance to win the game,” said Gray, who walked two and struck out eight. “I knew how this was going to play out. I knew I needed to do my thing and give our guys a chance to do what they did there at the end.”

Following two lackluster starts, Gray has turned in back-to-back sterling outings. He has racked up 19 strikeouts over 12 2/3 innings in his last two games.

Gray pitched a perfect first inning, but with one out in the second, he hit Andrew Vaughn on the helmet with a first-pitch breaking ball. Vaughn was OK, but Gray walked the next batter (Yasmani Grandal) on four pitches and had a 2-0 count on Leury García when catcher Tyler Stephenson made a mound visit. Gray was able to reset and continue.

“I was a little rattled,” Gray said. “I hit a guy in the head. It was a complete accident, obviously. I think everyone knows that. … There were some thoughts running through my head. I had to get those thoughts and remove them as soon as I could, and I wasn’t able to do it. I need to be better and be able to remove them quicker, but it took me a couple of hitters and took me some pitches to remove that.”

Chicago’s first hit came on Tim Anderson’s one-out single in the third inning, but Gray retired the next eight batters in a row -- including striking out the side in the fourth inning. He left after 90 pitches, but he tied Luis Castillo for the club’s longest pitching performance of the season.

Meanwhile, there was little the Reds could muster vs. Keuchel.

“That was impressive,” said Winker, who was left stranded after a first-inning double. “Both of those guys really pitched their [butts] off. It’s one of those games that you’re just kind of clawing for that run. We put up some good at-bats all day. Sonny was lights out again. It was a battle. That was a good baseball game.”

In the bullpen battle, Tejay Antone pitched the eighth and ninth innings for the Reds, facing the minimum six batters. Lucas Sims pitched the top of the 10th inning for the win, while his team benefitted by a couple of strategy miscues by White Sox manager Tony La Russa, who had pitcher Liam Hendriks (who had double switched into the fifth spot in the batting order) as the automatic runner at second to start the 10th, not knowing the rule allowed him to use the player before the pitcher in his lineup.

With Tucker Barnhart as the Reds’ automatic runner to start the bottom half, Nick Senzel led off with a single to left field off Liam Hendriks that put runners on the corners. After being down 0-2 to Hendriks, Winker worked an eight-pitch at-bat that culminated with his lined single into right-center field. It snapped an 18-inning scoreless streak for the Reds.

“What a great game. You knew it was going to come down to one big at-bat, one big run,” Reds manager David Bell said. “I know we’ve been scoring some runs, but there’s a lot to be said for our pitching, and Sonny is at the top of that list. We’ve seen that before and today he was sharp and really comfortable and locked in and determined to go deep into that game and hold it right there. It was a competition. He knew it was against another pitcher that was locked in and it was going to take his best effort, and he gave it to us.”