Sonny Gray rebounds in big way, Yankees blank Orioles 9-0

Yankees right-hander Sonny Gray followed two terrible outings with a gem Wednesday night in Baltimore.

BALTIMORE — Yankees right-hander Sonny Gray’s hunch was spot on.

Those mechanical tweaks that were made this week working with pitching coach Larry Rothschild indeed changed everything.

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In a rebound outing that perhaps saved his rotation spot, Gray worked six shutout innings Wednesday night in a 9-0 Yankees win over the Baltimore Orioles.

This was an important win for the Yankees, who salvaged a split in the four-games series against the lowly Orioles to stay within 3 1/2 games of the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox, who beat the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park for their ninth win in a row.

Gray needed this in a big way, as he’d been shelled for 11 runs over 4 1/3 innings in his two most-recent starts, a home loss to the Boston Red Sox and a loss in Toronto.

“I thought he had better command,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought he threw more strikes. I looked up there at one point and it was about two to one strikes to balls, and sometimes when we’ve seen him struggle it’s falling behind in counts maybe because he’s trying to be a little bit to fine, then he gets himself in trouble.

“Tonight he was dictating counts a lot more. And in two innings there when they had some traffic against him, he made a pitch. A big outing for us.”

In a game that was played with hot rumors in the air that the Yankees are making a run at trading for Orioles All-Star shortstop Manny Machado, Gray (6-7) put on a show pitching a three-hitter through six strong while striking out eight and walking one.

My biggest plan of attack to drive the ball down through the zone and try to keep the ball from getting lateral,” Gray said. “I thought I threw a lot of good fastballs at the bottom of the zone that had late life with action going down, not sideways.”

This was the third win in three starts for Gray this season against the Orioles, who are 41 games under .500 at 26-67. Now he needs to do it again (and again) against other clubs after the All-Star break, which runs from next Monday through Thursday.

Gray’s rebound outing was a theme of the night, as two other Yankees who hadn’t done a whole lot this season had big games.

First baseman Greg Bird made it two in a row, as he followed his homer, four-RBI performance in Tuesday night’s 6-5 loss to Baltimore by hitting his first career grand slam.

And after not hitting a lick during his limited chances the last two seasons, young infielder Tyler Wade got a start at second and he made the most of it by going 3-for-5 with his first career homer and a double.

Bird’s grand slam was a two-out blast in the third off Orioles starter Dylan Bundy that banged off the right-field foul pole to cap a five-run inning that opened up a 5-0 lead.

Wade led off the sixth with a blast off reliever Mike Wright Jr. that carried over the wall in right-center field for his first homer in his 100th career at-bat.

Gray, however, was the story of the night. Throughout his many struggles the Yankees have been insisting Gray has top-of-the-rotation stuff and can be an impact player for them, and this dominating outing reinforced that belief.

But rightfully so, Gray knows one good outing doesn’t make up for a lot of bad ones.

“It’s one start,” he said. “I felt good coming into it. I feel even better coming out of it. It’s one start to build on. Hopefully, it can continue down this path.”

NOTABLE

— Seattle Mariners shortstop Jean Segura beat out Yankees DH/outfielder Giancarlo Stanton in The Final Vote to secure the final American League All-Star roster spot. The internet vote began Sunday might and continued through 4 p.m. Wednesday.

— Playing right field, Stanton was 4-for-5 with two RBI to lift his season average to .276. He’s batting .371 with six homers and 17 RBI in his last 24 games since June 17.

— Left fielder Brett Gardner’s first inning stolen base was the 250th of his career. He’s fourth on the Yankees’ all-time list behind Derek Jeter (358), Rickey Henderson (326) and Willie Randolph (251).

LOOKING AHEAD

Thursday: Yankees at Cleveland Indians, 7:10 p.m., YES. RHP Luis Severino (14-2, 2.12) vs. RHP Corey Kluber (12-4, 2.49).

Friday: Yankees at Cleveland Indians, 7:10 p.m., YES. RHP Domingo German (2-4, 5.06) vs. RHP Shane Bieber (4-1, 3.47).

Saturday: Yankees at Cleveland Indians, 7:15 p.m., YES. LHP CC Sabathia (6-4, 3.34) vs. Mike Clevinger (7-4, 3.34).

Sunday: Yankees at Cleveland Indians, 1:10 p.m., YES. RHP Masahiro Tanaka (7-2, 4.68) vs. RHP Trevor Bauer (8-6, 2.30).

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