Gray (10 K's) back on the offense in loss to Tigers

DETROIT -- Sonny Gray is back to attacking, attacking, attacking -- and his stuff looks like it’s getting crisper, too, just in time for the race to the finish.

Though an early unearned run and a string of fourth-inning hits put the Twins behind in an eventual 6-0 loss to the Tigers on Tuesday night at Comerica Park that snapped a five-game winning streak, Gray also showed continued stretches of dominance in his fourth consecutive quality start while fanning 10 batters, his most since April.

“I felt like I knew where the ball was going, for the most part,” Gray said. “Just another one to build on and try and continue down the path that we’re going down. Maybe start getting through a game with maybe all zeros; that would be nice. But yeah, just another one to build on for me.”

Gray allowed only three runs (two earned) with 10 strikeouts and no walks in his six innings, including a two-run fourth in which the Tigers opened with four consecutive hits, capped by RBI singles from Javier Báez and Zach McKinstry.

But even the first-inning unearned run on a rushed and errant Jorge Polanco throw from second base would have been enough to sink the Twins, since Tigers left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez scattered just four singles in seven scoreless innings, denying Minnesota’s bid to extend its winning streak to a season-high six games.

“Overall, I felt good, but the guy that they had going tonight, he’s one of the best,” Gray said. “I mean, as good as I felt and as happy-ish as I am with my outing, at the end of the day, I did get outpitched and outperformed a little bit. Kudos to him.”

Though Gray represented the Twins in the All-Star Game, he has also spent the season trying to build into more effective form, admitting that he hasn’t always had his best stuff while struggling with a big inning or two in his outings, in which he’d let nibbling and being too careful around the strike zone compound the issues.

First, Gray started taking care of some of those late big innings to allow him to pitch deeper into games, an opportunity for which he’d openly campaigned last season and into the spring. After going six-plus innings in nine of 24 starts last season, Gray has already completed six or more frames 12 times in 2023, including in seven of his past eight outings.

And it really looks like Gray has figured out the nibbling issues, matching a career best with a third consecutive start in which he did not issue a walk. In these past three starts against Kansas City, St. Louis and Detroit, he posted 23 strikeouts without a free pass in 19 innings.

“He's going right at hitters, a lot of at-bats ending pretty early,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “The at-bats that do go to two strikes, he's putting them away well. I think he feels like he's in full command of his arsenal right now, and he can pitch in and out of the zone at will. That's what he's been doing.”

Now, as Gray pointed out, the next step is perhaps finding a way to limit the lapses altogether, as he has blanked his opponent in only one of his 17 starts since the end of April.

Often, the speed bump comes out of nowhere. Gray was spectacular for the first three innings, during which he struck out seven Tigers on the strength of his swing-and-miss sweeper. But Detroit's hitters made the adjustment in the fourth by leaning out over the plate to get to it, including on Miguel Cabrera’s leadoff single that tied the slugger with Tony Gwynn on the all-time hits list, and on Báez’s RBI knock up the middle two batters later.

Gray and catcher Christian Vázquez made the adjustment away from the pitch, and he got through clean fifth and sixth innings while totaling 17 swinging strikes, his second-highest total of the season and most since he was particularly stingy in early April.

And all things considered, Gray has still been one of the best starting pitchers in the American League and a leader of Minnesota's staff.

Still, he knows there’s more in there.

“I wish I maybe could have made [the adjustment] a little bit sooner,” Gray said. “Maybe during the inning. That’s maybe something that I could get a little bit better at moving forward.”