Sonny Gray Goes Five In Yankee Win; Paul Goldschmidt, Zack Greinke Lead Diamondbacks

Players of the Day for Monday, March 26, 2018

Gray: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 7K

Grapefruit League

Lest season, the Yankees acquired Sonny Gray from the Oakland A's just prior to the trade deadline, thinking he would fill out the starting rotation and help the Yanks make the playoffs.

New York did reach the playoffs, but not because of Gray, who earned a decision in each of his 11 starts down the stretch, going 4-7 with a 3.72 ERA. Gray was signed to a full contract and will be in the starting rotation, as he's settled down into a nice groove this Spring, winning two games without a loss, including Monday's 5-1 victory over the Braves.

Gray tossed five innings, allowing three hits and one earned run. He struck out seven and did not surrender any walks, lowering his ERA to a very respectable 1.98 over 13 2/3 innings.

Greinke: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER

Gray never trailed, as Didi Gregorius and Giancarlo Stanton each belted two-run homers. Gregorius launched his in the first inning; Stanton hit his third HR of the preseason in the third.

Cactus League

Goldschmidt: 3-4, HR, 2 RBI

Paul Goldschmidt singled, doubled and homered in four at-bats and Zack Greinke allowed one lonely hit over six innings as the Arizona Diamondbacks dumped the Cleveland Indians, 7-0.

Greinke set down the first ten batters he faced before giving up a one-out, fourth-inning single to Rajai Davis, the only hit Cleveland would produce all day. Grienke fanned four, didn't walk a batter and improved to 2-1 for Spring, with a 1.04 ERA.

Last season, Greinke and Goldschmidt led Arizona to the playoffs as a wild card. Greinke was 17-7 with an ERA of 3.20. Goldschmidt batted .297 with 36 home runs and 120 RBI.

The Diamondbacks evened their record at 15-15, trailing Milwaukee by for games with one game left to play before the regular season begins Thursday.