OAKLAND, Calif. – Highly-coveted offseason signing Sonny Gray comes up big for the St. Louis Cardinals once again, earning his 100th career win against the team that first gave him a chance to become a big-league pitcher.

Gray tossed six scoreless innings and struck out six in Monday’s road start against the Oakland Athletics, picking up his second win in as many games as the Cardinals held on for a 3-1 victory.

Gray was the Athletics’ first-round draft pick in 2011 and worked his way to his MLB debut in 2013.

Monday will be Gray’s last start at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum as the Athletics plan to relocate to Sacramento next season before an expected move to Las Vegas in 2028. He described it as a rather emotional start.

“You’re kind of sitting there like, ‘You know it’s probably going to be my last start here,’ Gray told Cardinals media members after Monday’s win. “I’ve made so many starts here. To me, it had a lot more meaning.”

Gray won 44 games over parts of five seasons with Oakland. He earned his first MLB win at the Coliseum nearly a decade ago, adding to the milestone victory.

“I knew that too,” said Gray. “I got my first win here. To have the opportunity to have all of those things coming into this, last time pitching here, sitting on 99 wins, I still kind of knew all of that before the game. To come out and perform and win a game we needed to win, it’s a good feeling.”

Gray also begins his St. Louis Cardinals career with two scoreless outings after starting the season on the injured list near the end of his recovery from a hamstring strain.

Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras and Jordan Walker all had run-scoring hits in Monday’s 3-1 victory over Oakland. A three-game series at the Bay continues through Wednesday.