MINNEAPOLIS – The last time Sonny Gray pitched in a game that mattered, he was struggling to find himself on the mound.
The struggles since have been physical, not baseball.
The ace of the A’s rotation, he returns to the mound in a Major League game Tuesday night in Minneapolis in Oakland’s 26th game of the season. Gray says he’s “excited, really ready to go” in what will be his first real game since last Aug. 5.
He did start one game on Sept. 28, but that was a one-inning photo op more than anything else, a chance for him to just stand on a mound once more in the season and remember what it was like.