Why Sonny Gray bizarrely rubbed his backside on the mound before pitching an inning

Umpires checking pitchers for foreign substances has led to some weird moments — the Max Scherzer near-belt rip, checking position players who pitched and so on.

And now there’s Sonny Gray rubbing his backside on the mound.

Here’s what happened: the Cincinnati Reds pitcher batted in the third inning on Sunday and had some pine tar on his pants. So the Reds made sure to inform the home-plate umpire so that Gray wasn’t tossed if he had been found to have a foreign substance on them.

Instead of changing his pants, he requested to rub some dirt on them. And that’s how this scene came to be:

Sonny Gray had what is believed to be pine tar on his pants so he rubbed his butt on the mound to get it off

(via @PitchingNinja) pic.twitter.com/EGsZf3C4Ga

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) July 18, 2021

Wild stuff.