Cardinals shut down Athletics behind familiar face Sonny Gray

OAKLAND — Sonny Gray returned to where it all started Monday night and put his former team in its place.

The St. Louis Cardinals beat the A’s 3-1 at the Coliseum, with Gray getting the 100th win of his major league career.

The A’s loss came before an announced crowd of 5,508, much of it wearing Cardinals red, and cooled off a team that came in having won three consecutive series for the first time since 2021.

Esteury Ruiz gave the A’s and manager Mark Kotsay and general manager David Forst something to think about in the eighth inning, hitting a 406-foot pinch homer off JoJo Romero to break up the shutout. Ruiz was activated just before game time to replace third baseman J.D. Davis, who went on the 10-day injured list with an abductor strain.

Shipped to to Triple-A after a 3-for-7 start, Ruiz hit an 0-1 pitch deep into the left field seats at 106.8 miles per hour. He was pinch-hitting against the left-handed Romero in place of Lawrence Butler.

Ruiz has been wearing out the ball since his demotion, adding power to the speed which produced an American League-leading 67 steals as a rookie last season.

“I don’t even think about it,” Ruiz said through a translator regarding his new-found power. “I just try to get good at-bats, hit the ball as best I can and if a home run comes, it comes and it will be really welcome. But I’m trying to put the ball on the bat and hit it to the right spot.”

Having Ruiz sent to Triple-A wasn’t well-received by the fan base. But if there was any bitterness over the move by Ruiz, he kept it well hidden.

“Of course you get sad when you get sent down,” Ruiz said. “You want to be here, but I love playing baseball. So if it’s here or Triple-A, I’m going to do my work and do my best and enjoy the game at the same time. But I definitely want to be here.”

The A’s have stressed plate-discipline, exit velocity and a more consistent approach with Ruiz. Kotsay is seeing signs of all three.

“The best thing that we’ve seen down there is he’s swinging in the zone 70 percent of the time, so he’s picking the right pitches to swing at and putting a good swing on it,” Kotsay said. “He’s had a great attitude. Even in the discussions when we were sending him out, he understood. He was determined to go perform, which he did. He was excited about being here.”

Gray, a fan favorite in Oakland from 2013 through 2017 with a sharp fastball and a crackling breaking ball that belied his 5-foot-10, 190 pound frame, has grown up as a pitcher and he was at his efficient best against his former team.

Esteury wasted no time 👀 pic.twitter.com/2iyHiduduB

— Oakland A’s (@Athletics) April 16, 2024

In six innings, Gray, 34, mixed his pitches beautifully and threw nearly 70 percent strikes (50 of 72) with no walks and six strikeouts. He gave up four hits with only one A’s runner reaching third base. After throwing five shutout innings in his first start, Gray is 2-0 and unscored on in 11 innings.

“Sonny was Sonny,” Kotsay said. “he’s a front line starter that commands both sides of the plate, has got a wipeout slider. We knew it was going to be a tough night.”

Andrew Kittredge, Romero and Ryan Helsley finished up for the Cardinals, with Helsley getting his sixth save.

A’s starter Ross Stripling left with two out in the sixth, not pitching all that badly but trailing 2-0 with two runners aboard. Jordan Walker singled to right to drive in a third run — charged to Stripling — and St. Louis had given Gray a three-run cushion in the top of the sixth.

Stripling threw 101 pitches, 67 of them strikes, with two walks and four strikeouts. His record fell to 0-4.

It was frustrating because I felt I was throwing the ball well against a good lineup against a good team,” Stripling said. “Then to go out there in the sixth and give up a leadoff double. You want to keep it close there, end up giving up two, and a three-run lead feel obviously bigger than a one-run lead and it looks like a much better outing.

The sixth opened with a Lars Nootbaar double against Stripling, and when Nolan Arenado flied deep to left — he seemed unable to believe the ball didn’t go out — Nootbaar tagged up and went to third.

Willson Contreras then grounded a double down the left field line to score Nootbaar. Stripling goto Nolan Gorman on a grounder, but was removed after a walk to Masyn Winn, bringing in Michael Kelly. Walker’s single against Kelly drove in the second run.