Ex-Yankee Sonny Gray picks up win vs. NY as Red Sox pitcher

Boston Red Sox outfielder Sonny Gray made it clear over the winter that he intensely hated the New York Yankees when he played for them.

Facing his former team for the first time as a member of the Red Sox, he earned a 5-3 win for Boston on Friday night.

Gray, 36, tossed 6.1 innings on 79 pitches (56 strikeouts) and earned his seventh win of the season despite allowing eight hits (two home runs), three earned runs, and two walks in Yankee Stadium.

After being traded to the Red Sox last offseason, the right-hander expressed his hatred for the Yankees. Gray was offered to New York in 2017 and 2018 after being traded there from the Athletics.

“I’ll tell you what factors influenced my decision to come to Boston,” Gray said in December 2025. “It feels good for me to go to a place now, where it’s easy to hate the Yankees.”

Gray revealed that he never wanted to play for New York. During his 13-year MLB career before landing in Boston, his second-highest ERA season came in 2018 in New York (4.90).

“New York wasn’t in a good position for me,” Gray said. “It wasn’t a great setup for me and my family. I never wanted to go there in the first place.”

In the wake of Gray’s comments, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Gray told people in New York that he wanted to play there and win a championship.

“That’s when he told me he never wants to be here,” Cashman said Gray expressed to him in 2018. “He hates New York. ‘This is the worst place.’ He’s just sitting in his hotel room.”

Fast forward to Gray’s most recent start, and he was neutral in his assessment of returning to the Bronx. However, he hinted that his anticipation of returning to Yankee Stadium could have taken into account why New York was so strongly against him.

“There was definitely some juice. That’s probably why my stuff stayed up a little bit, so I’ll learn from it and be able to control my emotions and my energy and just be able to throw pitches,” Gray told reporters after the game. “I felt really good, but I feel like my stuff stayed the same, and maybe that was just because I felt really good. It was fun.”

“I came back here and pitched, but the first time with the Red Sox, but I’m glad we came away with the win.”

Gray has pitched against the Yankees three times since 2018 (once at Yankee Stadium in 2022).

Through 11 starts (56.1 innings) this season, Gray is 7-1 with a 3.20 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. The veteran has been a big part of the Red Sox’s largely successful rotation despite Garrett Crochet being out with a sore shoulder.

Callie Brown

Sports product

Callie Brown is a sports producer for Boston.com, where she covers the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox.