Former Twins pitcher Sonny Gray set to make return to Target Field

The Minnesota Twins will host the second game of a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night but besides the impact the game will have in the American League postseason race, it carries another important storyline with the return of Sonny Gray.

Gray signed a three-year, $75 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals in free agency last winter but on Saturday, Gray will take the mound against Pablo López who helped form a dominant top-of-the-rotation and earn runner-up honors for the American League Cy Young Award.

"We both brought so much out of each other, I would say," Gray told reporters including the Star Tribune 's Bobby Nightengale on Friday.

"Having another guy like him on the staff that was so dominant, it made me better."

Gray came to Minnesota in a trade including 2021 first-round draft pick Chase Petty before the 2022 season. After a scalding-hot start to his career in Oakland, Gray slowed down with the New York Yankees before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 2019.

Gray was solid for the Reds, going 23-20 with a 3.49 ERA in 68 starts but he was coming off a 7-9 record with a 4.19 ERA in 2021. Entering his age-32 season, Gray became expendable and connected with the Twins coaching staff upon being traded to Minnesota.

"Coming here, the way they think about pitching here, the way they talk about pitching, it resonated with me," Gray told MLB.com's Do-Hyoung Park. "I was able to learn a lot here on the other sides, on some things that maybe I hadn't been told, philosophies and stuff. It was a really good spot for me, so I enjoyed it."

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Gray's comfort translated to the mound as he went 16-13 with a 2.90 ERA in 56 starts for the Twins over the past two seasons. Gray hit another gear last year, going 8-8 with a 2.79 ERA and finishing as the runner up in the American League Cy Young Award voting, behind the New York Yankees' Gerrit Cole.

Although Gray was getting older, the Twins would have liked to keep him around but were honest about their financial restraints at the beginning of free agency. While Gray appreciated their transparency, he also knew that the restrictions meant it was the end of his time in Minnesota.

"I knew pretty early on throughout the free agency process that this wasn't going to be a place that I was going to come back to," Gray said. "As much as I did enjoy it here, as much as I liked it here, as much success as we were starting to have and camaraderie as a team, as soon as the qualifying offer was made I knew."

"...Even though we did come back a couple of times and try to work on some things, I kind of knew early on that it wasn't [happening]."

Gray's first season in St. Louis had a rough start as he began the year on the injured list with a hamstring injury but has been reliable, going 11-8 with a 3.91 ERA in 23 starts.

They're numbers that the Twins could use as they try to patch together their rotation in the wake of Joe Ryan's shoulder injury earlier this month.

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With Gray on the opposite mound, the Twins have relied on López, who is 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA in his last seven starts, along with Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson and pitching prospects David Festa and Zebby Matthews.

While the results have been frustrating for Twins fans, Gray also said it's a sign of transparency, which was a theme throughout his time in Minnesota.

"Throughout my two years here, I was very open and transparent with them in everything," Gray said. "...So, they did that with me throughout the free agent thing. They weren't lying. It wasn't like they didn't sign me and then go sign somebody else or go sign all these other dudes. Yeah, it just is what it is."

The Twins (71-57) enter Saturday's game 3.5 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox for the final wild card spot in the American League. Saturday's game is scheduled to begin at 6:05 p.m. CT.