Sonny Gray was phenomenal again yesterday in leading his team to a 6-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park in Milwaukee.

Sonny went 5 in a 7 inning game, as the teams were playing a doubleheader and under the new MLB rule this year, doubleheaders are 2, 7 inning games due to the condensed nature of the season and the need to play more DH’s. Sonny gave up 4 hits, 0 runs, with 2 walks and 4 K’s. His fastball was hitting 93 consistently. Didn’t see 94, but I missed some of it. His curve ball was lights out stellar coming in at 80, 81 and dropping perfectly into the strike zone causing a lot of swings and misses. The man threw 85 pitches, with 50 for strikes against 35 balls. Sonny throws a lot of stuff out of the strike zone, which is so tricky that the batter swings at it. So when they don’t swing it’s a ball. But it doesn’t matter because he is so effective in getting batters out.

Sonny moved to 5-1 on the season with an extraordinary 1.94 ERA, 7th in the Majors, and a 1.01 WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched), which is 35th in the Big Leagues. His 55 strikeouts are 3rd in the Majors. He has walked only 15. Sonny is putting together a Cy Young worthy season. Proud of him. He’ll pitch next against the St. Louis Cardinals at home next Tuesday Night, Sept. 1st, @5:40 PM CT. He’ll face Cardinals lefty Kwang-Hyun Kim, who is 1-0 with a 1.08 ERA and an 0.90 WHIP, so will be a good test. The Reds took the nightcap from the Brewers, 6-0, to move to 13-17 on the season and into 3rd place in the NL Central, 5 back of the Chicago Cubs, who are 18-12, and 3 back of the Cardinals, who are 11-11. Excellent stuff from Sonny and the Reds. The Reds host the Cubs for a 4 game set this weekend at Great American Park with tonight’s game starting at 6:10 PM CT. The 2 teams play a doubleheader tomorrow and a single game Sunday. Then the Cards come into Great American for 2 games. So huge upcoming 6 games for the Reds versus the Cubs and the Cards in terms of the NL Central Standings.

Bryan Reynolds had a key RBI single in the top of the eighth inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Cardinals 4-3 in the first game of their doubleheader, 4-3. The Bucs also captured the nightcap, 2-0. Great stuff from BR and the Bucs. The Pirates moved to 9-19, not great, but have won 5 out of their last 6, so there is promise. They are 8 back of the Cubs in the NL Central. BR is hitting .200 with 2 homers and 8 RBIs, but still getting clutch hits and playing terrific defense. He’ll get the bat going. He’s too good of a hitter not to. The Pirates are @ Milwaukee for a 3 game weekend set starting tonight at 7:10 CT.

Yaz and the Giants had a tough time with Clayton Kershaw and the awesome L.A. Dodgers yesterday. Kershaw went 6, gave up 4 hits with 0 runs, 0 walks and 4 K’s in a Dodgers’ 7-0 victory in the first game, and the Dodgers defeated the Giants in the second game, 2-0. Mike was 1 for 3 against Kershaw and the Dodgers in the first game, and 0 for 2 in the second game. He is now hitting .289 with 7 homers and 23 Ribeyes, his 23 RBIs are tied for 14th in the majors. Mike still having an awesome year and believe in the Giants They fell to 15-18 and are in 4th place of the NL West, 9 games back of the phenomenal Dodgers, who are 24-9 and lead second place San Diego by 5 games. The Padres are 19-14. The Giants play @ Arizona this weekend, and the Dodgers are @ Texas. Still pulling for the Dodgers, too, as Walker Buehler is a key piece to the team and I picked them to win the World Series on my All Sports Blog before the season started. So not totally unhappy with yesterday’s result. Walker on the 10 day DL with a blister on his right hand. Walk will probably be out till next weekend, around the Saturday Sept. 5th, Sunday, the 6th, or maybe even Monday the 7th.

Interestingly, the Dodgers face Mike Minor and the Rangers tonight. Mike needs a good night. He’s 0-5 with a 6.75 ERA. The Dodgers are throwing their 22 year old stud Dustin May who is 1-1 with a 2,79 ERA. Game time is 7:05 CT.

More on our MLBers and some football next week. Have a terrific weekend.