Sonny Gray took drastic measures to get Cardinals back on track after rocky inning

Anyone who's been around baseball long enough will tell you that superstitions run rampant. But even that doesn't make the actions of St. Louis Cardinals ace Sonny Gray any less hilarious and certainly unconventional after his revelation on Friday night.

Gray, who was the gem of the Cardinals free agency signings this past offseason, was on the hill for Friday's outing against the lowly Chicago White Sox. Over his first two innings, the right-hander was cruising, allowing one hit and striking out two with no runs on the board. Things got a bit dicey in the third inning for Gray, however.

After retiring the first two batters, he allowed a single, then saw the runner advance on a wild pitch. That then led to a walk and a steal of third base after, putting him in a jam. Gray got out of it after getting Eloy Jiménez to line out to end the inning, but not before the Cardinals hurler tossed 25 pitches in the inning along and found himself in some trouble.

So what did Sonny Gray do to try and shake that off? He apparently just shook off his uniform and gear in the locker room, completely undressing and putting on a new jersey, new cleats, new hat and the whole nine yards before returning to the mound.

Sonny Gray undressed and put on new clothes to change vibes of latest Cardinals start

Gray explained his superstitious approach after the game, noting that this actually isn't the first time he's redressed mid-start when he needs to reset things and get the feeling of, "Alright, you're a new guy."

First off, tip of the cap for the speed that Gray showed in making this wardrobe change. The Cardinals hitters saw only 21 pitches in the bottom of that third inning before the righty was scheduled to be back out on the mound. That's efficiency at its finest.

More importantly, though, even if it sounds crazy, Gray's strategy seemed to work to perfection for him and St. Louis. He ultimately went on to pitch 7.0 innings while allowing just three hits and one walk with six strikeouts. More pressingly, he allowed just one more baserunner over the final four innings after he hit the clubhouse and changed up his digs.

Will this be the hot new craze sweeping MLB rotations over the next few years? Most likely not. Again, the speed of the maneuver from Gray can't be understated, plus there is probably a non-negligible contingent of players who think this is crazy to believe a uniform change would have any impact. But it clearly works for Gray as he's done this before, and did it again on Friday with the Cardiinals. Based on the results, St. Louis probably wouldn't hate seeing him doing it again in a similar situation if that should arise later in the season.