ST. LOUIS – On the verge of ending a historic streak, Sonny Gray did his best not to leave anything to chance.
Gray matched his longest start of the season and earned his first win since April 30, ending a 15-start winless streak that defied logic for an All-Star pitcher. It was the longest single-season winless streak by a Twins starter since the franchise moved to Minnesota in 1961.
Buoyed by run support he hasn’t seen in over a month, Gray was efficient over seven innings in a 5-3 victory over the Cardinals on Thursday at Busch Stadium. The Twins finished their six-game road trip through Missouri with a 2-4 record.
Gray, who has been plagued by one blowup inning in recent starts, simply stayed in the strike zone and challenged hitters. He was pulled after 77 pitches in seven innings, before facing the top of the Cardinals lineup for the fourth time. He recorded his first nine outs in 32 pitches and had three innings in which he threw fewer than 10 pitches. He reached only one three-ball count, and it resulted in a strikeout after starting with a 3-0 count.
Making his first start since the trade deadline — multiple teams inquired about his availability — Gray wasn’t perfect, but he was relentless. He surrendered an RBI double to Dylan Carlson in the second inning and yielded a solo homer to Alec Burleson in the sixth, but those were the only at-bats that ended with a runner in scoring position. Burleson’s homer was just the fifth allowed by Gray this season.
Gray, who was vocal about pitching deeper into games during spring training, completed seven innings in a start for the first time since April 24.
The Twins, the league’s worst-hitting team against lefthanded pitching this season, strung together a four-run second inning against struggling Cardinals lefty Matthew Liberatore. Ryan Jeffers extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a two-run homer to center field.
Willi Castro followed Jeffers with a double that deflected off Liberatore’s foot and rolled past shortstop Tommy Edman into left field. Liberatore, after a visit from a trainer, started Michael A. Taylor with a 3-0 count. Taylor received the green light to swing on the next pitch and he rocketed a fastball to the third deck in left field, the ball soaring over a sign that read “Big Mac Land.”
It was the first time the offense scored more than three runs while Gray was still on the mound since June 15.
Liberatore was knocked out of the game in the sixth inning after he gave up two singles and issued a two-out walk to load the bases. Drew VerHagen, a righty reliever, walked Taylor with the bases loaded to give Gray a four-run lead.
Gray struck out eight batters, his highest total since May 12, and seven came via his slider. When he struck out his last batter, Taylor Motter, on a slider in the dirt, Gray let out a yell and clapped his hand into his glove.
It took 96 days, but Gray finally saw a fifth win added next to his name after Griffin Jax pitched a clean eighth inning and Jhoan Duran gave up one run in the ninth. Gray went 4-0 in April, then went 0-4 over the next three months while the Twins posted a 4-11 team record during his winless stretch.
The Twins picked up their first series victory since they swept the White Sox from July 21-23.