Yankees' Sonny Gray stinks it up again in 11-0 Red Sox rout

by Felix Pantaleón

On a night Sonny Gray allowed six runs over 2 1/3 innings, Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale pitched a one-hitter over seven shutout innings in an 11-0 Yankees loss.

NEW YORK — Remember Debbie Downer from Saturday Night Live back in the day?

The Yankees have something similar in their rotation.

Why Torres hit cleanup spot for first time as pro

Meet Suffering Sonny.

Or maybe it’s Sonny Sorrow.

Whatever, often-struggling righty Sonny Gray was back deflating the Yankees faithful on Saturday night, this time in front of the largest crowd ever at the present-day Yankee Stadium, 47,125 fans who pretty much knew the outcome before Aaron Judge’s first at-bat.

Six batters into the middle game of this showdown series against the Red Sox, Rafael Devers hit a first-inning grand slam and the Yankees were on their way to being skunked 11-0.

The Yankees knew this would be a tough game with Red Sox ace lefty Chris Sale going, but they didn’t expect Gray to have them in a 6-0 hole by the second inning.

With two on and one out in the Red Sox fourth, Gray received an early hook from manager Aaron Boone and then a chorus of boos that was louder that the ones he received after the third out to the Boston first and second innings.

All the while, Sale (8-4) was tremendous pitching a one-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts and one walk over seven innings in a win that pushed the Red Sox back into a one-game lead in the AL East over the Yankees, who had forced a tie by winning Friday night’s series opener 8-1.

The Yankees had just two hits all night, a first-inning single by Giancarlo Stanton off Sale, who retired the last 16 hitters that he faced, and a two-outs-in-the-ninth single by Gleyber Torres.

Gray (5-6) followed a terrible first two months to 2018 by going 3-1 with a 2.63 ERA over his first four June starts, but this six-run, seven-inning, 2 1/3-inning clunker jacked his season ERA back up to a high 5.44.

This was the fourth time in 16 starts that Gray didn’t get through the fourth inning and sixth time he didn’t make it through five.

Here’s something that’s more concerning:

Gray now is 0-4 with a 9.34 ERA in four starts against the Red Sox since he joined the Yankees last summer with 18 earned runs allowed on 26 hits over 17 1/3 innings.

And how about this:

At least for the time, being, Gray has surpassed the infamous Carl Pavano for the highest career home ERA by a Yankees pitcher with at least 13 starts. Gray is at 7.10 in 13 starts – eight of them this season – while Pavano was at 6.12 pitching for the Yankees from 2005-08.

Ouch!

NOTABLE

— Devers, 21, was 5-for-5 with a grand slam, double and three singles to raise his season average from .242 to .251.

— Just back from Triple-A, Brandon Drury made his first career start at first base and was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts, the first two facing Sale.

— Aaron Judge was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts facing Sale and now is 3 for 18 with one homer, 13 strikeouts and two walks for his career against the lefthander.

— Adam Warren replaced Gray and worked 2 2/3 shutout innings to extend his streak of scoreless innings to 11 2/3 innings over his last nine outings.

— J.D. Martinez drove in the 10th Boston run with an eighth-inning RBI single off Jonathan Holder, who allowed an earned run for the first time in his last 19 outings.

— Rookie Kyle Higashioka caught the final three innings for the Yankees and popped out to second in his only at-bat. He’s now 0 for 3 this year since his call-up from Triple-A last Monday and 0 for 21 for his career dating to last season.

LOOKING AHEAD

Sunday: Boston Red Sox at Yankees, 8:05 p.m., ESPN. LHP David Price (9-5, 3.66) vs. RHP Luis Severino (12-2, 2.10).

Monday: Atlanta Braves at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., YES. TBA vs. RHP Jonathan Loaisiga (2-0, 1.93).

Tuesday: Atlanta Braves at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., YES. TBA vs. RHP Domingo German (2-4, 5.32).

Wednesday: Atlanta Braves at Yankees, 1:05 p.m., YES. TBA vs. LHP CC Sabathia (5-3, 3.02).

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