Willson Contreras hit a 421-foot homer and Romy Gonzalez added a first-season blast as Sonny Gray limited the Angels to one run over six innings, sending the Red Sox to an 8-1 win in Anaheim.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The game started with a wall of sound from Willson Contreras, and by the time Sonny Gray had Boston in front 3-0, the Los Angeles Angels looked like a team trying to run downhill.
Contreras launched a 421-foot homer to left-center in the first inning, and Gray did the rest. The right-hander allowed one run and four hits in six innings as the Boston Red Sox beat the Angels 8-1 on Saturday night.
Romy Gonzalez also went deep, adding a towering 368-foot fly that cleared the short left-field wall for his first homer of the season. Wilyer Abreu contributed offensively with a two-run double, and the Red Sox held the Angels in check again after Gray’s departure.
Jovani Morán, Greg Weissert and Alec Gamboa combined for three hitless innings out of the bullpen. It helped push a Red Sox team that has won seven of nine games to a clean win after the Angels came in having lost five straight and 11 of 17 since June 17.
Gray improved to 10-1 while pitching the kind of precision that makes innings disappear. He induced two of Boston’s three double-play grounders, struck out seven and walked one. Even with all those numbers. the 36-year-old right-hander wasn’t named to the American League All-Star team Saturday. despite leading the league in wins and ranking second with a 2.61 ERA.
Boston’s early lead set the tone. Sam Aldegheri walked two batters ahead of Contreras’ homer, and the Red Sox never really relinquished control. Josh Lowe answered for Los Angeles in the second with a one-out solo homer that pulled the Angels to 3-1.
Gray then kept the pressure from turning into momentum for Anaheim. Jo Adell walked, Wade Meckler singled, and Gray struck out Donovan Walton and Tyler Heineman to end the threat.
Aldegheri continued to work without giving up a hit for stretches, not allowing one in the second, third and fourth. His outing ended with a pitch count of 88, and he was pulled in favor of left-hander Samy Natera Jr. The change came with a quick cost.
In the fifth, Anthony Seigler led off with a double and Ceddanne Rafaela walked. Abreu slammed a two-run double off the right-field wall to make it 5-1.
Gonzalez’s homer widened the gap even further. He was robbed of a potential first-inning homer when Adell made a leaping catch of his drive above the wall in right. but he got his next chance. With Adell on base again later. Gonzalez turned it into a 7-1 lead by sending a ball deep over the short left-field wall.
Rafaela added the final touch late, delivering an RBI single in the eighth to make it 8-1.
Sunday night’s series finale is next, with Red Sox LHP Ranger Suarez (4-3, 2.94 ERA) opposing Angels RHP Ryan Johnson (1-3, 7.40).
Red Sox Angels Sonny Gray Willson Contreras Romy Gonzalez Wilyer Abreu Jovani Morán Greg Weissert Alec Gamboa ANAHEIM