Sonny Gray, Rocco Baldelli explain intense dugout exchange

Gray wanted to "stay in the fight" while Baldelli didn't like what he saw in the fourth inning.

Sonny Gray isn't a fan of being pulled from games early. He made that very clear last year and he reiterated Thursday night how much it bothers him when Twins manager Rocco Baldelli keeps him on a short leash. 

In the Twins' 8-4 loss to Detroit Thursday, Gray had thrown 79 pitches and wasn't allowed to keep pitching after four innings. He had allowed two runs on just three hits, but he walked four batters, three of them in a 35-pitch fourth inning. Baldelli had seen enough. 

“It’s never an easy call to take out a starter at that point in the game with a pitcher like Sonny, because he does compete … even when he’s not quite feeling like himself,” Baldelli said. “But at that point in the game with what I was watching, that’s the decision I absolutely thought was the right decision in the moment.”

Gray saw it differently and everyone watching Bally Sports North saw an intense exchange between Gray and Baldelli when Gray found out his night was over. 

Here's the heated dugout exchange between Rocco Baldelli and Sonny Gray last night. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/tzix9ruqBR

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) June 16, 2023

“I’m super competitive, and [even] when I don’t have it, I still feel I can get a job done,” Gray said. “I think that was all it was. There is nothing other than that. I wanted to stay in it, and it just didn’t happen.”

“Physically, mentally, I felt good,” Gray added. “Obviously, I had a long fourth and I wasn’t throwing the ball exactly how I would have liked to. I know that I walked some guys here and there. But at the same time, I felt like I was continuing to battle, continuing to fight. … I never want to get taken out of the game. Yeah, I wanted to keep pitching. It just didn’t happen. I mean, I wanted to keep pitching. I felt like I was just competing. Obviously, I didn’t have my best stuff. I wasn’t throwing a ton of strikes and I was walking guys. But at the same time, I was trying to bear down and I was just trying to stay in the fight. Stay in the fight. Stay in the fight. Stay in the fight. Stay in the fight.”

This isn't the first time Gray has disagreed with Baldelli. Last August, Gray expressed frustration with being pulled from starts early, which was happening on a regular basis. This season, he's been pulled after four or five innings in seven of his 14 starts. So while his 2.37 ERA ranks fifth in the majors, he has just five quality starts. 

Baldelli's take on the intense dugout conversation: “He wanted to stay in the game. That’s it,” he said. “I want guys like Sonny Gray who want to stay on the mound and go. … Sometimes, there’s a conversation to be had in those moments that I want to hear. And sometimes, you just have to make a decision as far as what to do with your pitching for the rest of the game and you make a call."