“I never wanted to go there [New York] in the first place”— Sonny Gray, a former Yankee, had made his reluctance clear about returning to the Bronx. On Wednesday, the New York Yankees fans made him pay for it. Gray returned to Yankee Stadium for the third time in his post-Yankees era during Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series. As the 36-year-old RHP took the mound, Gray knew the Yankees fans would give him a tough time. 4.2 innings later, the prediction turned out to be right as he exited the mound.
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The Boston Red Sox manager, Chad Tracy, pulled Gray at the same time he pulled Payton Tolle during Game 1 of the Wild Card Series. Just like Tuesday, the decision did nothing to favor the Red Sox. The bullpen imploded after Gray’s exit, and the Yankees crushed the Red Sox 9-2. As Gray left the mound earlier than expected after surrendering two earned runs, loud boos followed him. The New York Post shared a clip of Gray’s exit on their official X account.
“The Yankee Stadium crowd let Sonny Gray hear it as he was taken out of the game,” wrote the Post.
The Red Sox handed the ball to Gray and tasked him with keeping their postseason run alive. After Tuesday’s 9-0 shutout loss, Game 2 was a must-win for the Red Sox. Gray kept the Yankees scoreless until Luis Garcia Jr. hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the fourth, sparking the home team’s offense. However, the veteran pitcher took back control and retired the rest of the hitters to end the inning. Gray was shakier in the next frame.
The Red Sox starter gave up a leadoff single to Trent Grisham and, with two outs, put runners on base before he was pulled. Inheriting the runner from Gray, Erik Miller surrendered an RBI single to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead, charging Gray of another run.
At the end of the 2026 postseason for Gray, his line read 2 runs on hits, with strikeouts in 4.2 innings. He threw 70 pitches, slightly better than Payton Tolle’s 83 pitches in 4.2 innings.
First baseman Willson Contreras pulled Max Fried’s 95 mph fastball for a solo shot in the sixth. Contreras’ efforts briefly made it a one-run game before the Yankees pounded Red Sox relievers Garrett Crochet and Garrett Whitlock.
George Lombard Jr. drove in a single to score Spencer Jones, who stole third on a wild pitch. Crochet allowed back-to-back singles to load the bases before he was pulled. Whitlock did not fare any better, as the Yankees scored five more runs, including Cody Bellinger’s three-run home run. Austin Wells drove in a run in the next frame to make it 9-2. Nick Sogard homered the Red Sox’s final run.
As the Yankees eliminated the Boston Red Sox, Sonny Gray took the loss. The latest outing marked the third time Gray faced the Yankees this season. In his previous two regular-season starts, the Red Sox dominated the Bronx Bombers. He allowed 3 runs in 6.1 innings in the Bronx and 7.1 scoreless innings at Fenway Park.
But the Yankees decimated them when it mattered most: the postseason. While the 2025 ALWCS was highly competitive, the Yankees swept the Red Sox this time. The Red Sox’s incredible 32-5 turnaround from August ultimately ended in a Wild Card series collapse (9-0 and 9-2).
As the Red Sox bats went cold, Sonny Gray bore the brunt of the animosity from the Yankees’ fans, mostly triggered by his recent comments. The boos reflected not just his poor outing but a memory from 2018, when Gray smiled after being pulled.
What did Sonny Gray say before Wednesday’s game?
Sonny Gray spent the latter half of the 2017 season and the whole of 2018 playing for the pinstripes. However, his stay in the Bronx was anything but smooth. Gray posted a 3.72 ERA in 11 starts during his first season and a 4.90 ERA across 30 outings in his second. The Yankees removed him from the rotation after he smiled when fans booed following a poor start against the Baltimore Orioles in 2018.
Gray redeemed his career after he left New York to join the Cincinnati Reds. Then, he played for the Minnesota Twins and the St. Louis Cardinals before being traded to the Red Sox last year. On Tuesday, Gray spoke about fan reception at Yankee Stadium.
“As far as reception, this or that, it will be what it will be,” Gray told MLB.com. “I’m not going to sit here and try to control something that I can’t control because I ultimately have no control over that. It will be what it will be, and I’ll just do my part to be ready to go out there and compete and to pitch and to go win a game.”
Gray also claimed that his time in New York snowballed. He revealed that he needed a different setting to reflect on everything that happened. His words clearly did not sit well with the fans, and their reaction to him proved that.