Gray's 2021 finale sunk by White Sox thump

CHICAGO -- Sonny Gray spent much of the 2021 season trying to battle through injuries, finding the right pitch selection and more. There were also plenty of positive moments, as well.

But Gray’s season did not end on a high note as the Reds went quietly Wednesday with just four hits during a 6-1 defeat to the White Sox, as they were swept in the two-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field. Eliminated from the postseason Tuesday, this was Cincinnati’s first game this season with no playoff implications.

“Overall, the point is to go to the postseason, so it’s kind of disappointing finishing like this,” Gray said.

Gray finished with 4 2/3 innings and allowed five runs on five hits with two walks, six strikeouts and a wild pitch that scored a run. It was a lackluster end to a sometimes challenging season for the right-hander, who concluded 2021 with a 7-9 record and 4.19 ERA in 26 starts.

“I think it's been a season of adjustments and growth, even at this stage of his career,” Reds manager David Bell said of Gray. “He has a lot of years left ahead of him and he wants to be great, so he's just continued to find ways this year. He's used this season to just address that and keep evolving as a pitcher.”

The night opened in promising fashion for Gray, who retired his first six batters. Leury García led off the bottom of the third inning with an infield single off the glove of fill-in first baseman Max Schrock. Gavin Sheets then hit the first ball out of the infield in the game vs. Gray, a two-run home run to right field.

A two-out, four-pitch walk to Yoán Moncada in the fourth was followed by García’s RBI single to center field, before Sheets added an RBI single to left field. Before walking him with two outs in the fifth inning, Gray threw a wild pitch to Yasmani Grandal that scored Luis Robert from third base to make it a 5-0 game.

“My stuff was fine. I felt good. I went in with a good plan,” Gray said. “I felt like I went in with a fine attitude. I wanted to compete one last good time and see what happens. A couple of the hits, I thought I executed my pitches pretty well. It just didn’t kind of work out, you know?”

The season got off on the wrong foot for Gray, who missed the first two weeks with a back strain. He also later missed three weeks in June with a right groin strain.

Gray found a groove in the second half, going 5-0 with a 2.79 ERA in a seven-start stretch from July 30-Sept. 1. Cincinnati won six of those seven starts. It was during this time, especially, that Gray often experimented with his repertoire of pitches. In a couple of starts, he stopped using one of his better pitches -- the slider. He also changed grips on that pitch and it acted more like a cutter.

“I kind of do a lot of things on the fly, but I kind of developed a new-ish pitch, and it was good,” Gray said. “I think it didn’t get much damage done on that. I had to really sit down for a second this year and take a look in the mirror and kind of go for it, and that was fun. Actually going all in and going for it, that was good.”

Over his final five starts, however, Gray was 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA and he couldn’t complete five innings in either of his last two outings.

“I would say very average,” Gray said of his season. “Some good, some bad. Overall, just kind of average.”

“I think overall, it's been a year he might look back at and point to as a year of growth and adjustments,” Bell said.

Gray, who turns 32 in November, will be entering the final season of a three-year, $30.5 million contract extension he signed as a condition of his Jan. 21, 2019, trade from the Yankees. There is also a $12 million club option for 2023, but his deal is club-friendly enough that other teams might be calling the Reds with offseason trade offers.

As for his offseason plans to work on things for 2022, Gray wasn’t ready to commit to anything yet.

“That time will come. It’s not right now for me,” he said. “I would say I was proud to get through some struggles. You learn so much from every season. I was proud to be able to overcome some adversity throughout this year, especially for me personally.”