Yankees’ Sonny Gray tries to explain why he’s stinking up a solid rotation

Sonny Gray made it two terrible outings in a row Friday night during a 6-2 Yankees loss in Toronto.

TORONTO — Yankees right-hander Sonny Gray lifted an arm to show a reporter a small bandage on his forearm following a postgame press conference that had to be uncomfortable.

“Blood test,” Gray said with a smirk on his face. “When it rains, it pours.”

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The on-the-mound bleeding continued Friday night at Rogers Centre when Gray somehow found a way to be just as bad in this five-run, two-inning start against the Toronto Blue Jays as he was last Saturday night at Yankee Stadium when he was torched for six runs over 2 1/3 innings by the Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees lost this one 6-2 to the Jays after being skunked 11-0 by the Bosox in Gray’s previous start.

“Another poor performance,” Gray said.

After losing to Boston, Gray ripped into himself like we’ve never seen before during his mostly disappointing 11 months as a Yankee.

There was a lot more positivity this time … forced positivity.

“I’m frustrated, but at the same time I’ve got to come up with some solution if I want to continue to go out there and compete,” Gray said. “I think it’s important for me as a baseball player and as a person to stay as positive as I can and even when it’s easy to get down in the dumps and walk around with your head down.”

Gray should be walking around with his head down. He’s 5-7 with a 5.85 ERA on a 56-29 ballclub that trails the Red Sox by two games in the AL East instead of being up a few because he’s been so bad so often.

Gray keeps saying after starts like Friday’s that he’ll work hard to get back to the way that he can pitch — as he did in his seasons with Oakland.

But the Yankees now are more than halfway through the season and Gray still is a mess. His command frequently is way off and he mixes in far too many hittable mistake pitches, like the down-the-middle hanging slider that Justin Smoak hit for a three-run home run to cap the Blue Jays’ five-run second inning Friday night.

Why haven’t Gray’s problems been fixed?

“I’m not sure,” he said. “I think there’s been way too many games like this rather than the other way. I’m not really sure.

“I’m going to go out and compete as long as they’ll allow me to and put in the work between starts to try to make sure that I can get it turned around. That’s kind of all I can control at this point.”

For the time being, the Yankees are sticking with Gray, who apparently will make his next scheduled start Wednesday in Baltimore.

Gray knows that the Yankees’ patience is wearing thin as they hunt for another starter on the trade market.

“It’s not early in the season anymore,” he said. “This is when you’re expected to go out there and contribute and get in some type of rhythm and go out and put together solid starts back to back. I haven’t even been close to being able to do that.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.