Boston Red Sox
Andruw Monasterio turned Boston’s 1-0 lead into a 3-0 advantage with one swing in the ninth inning.
The resilient Boston Red Sox push on despite their lengthy winning streaks being a thing of the past.
The Red Sox shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-0, thanks to Sonny Gray and some late-game hitting on Saturday night.
Wilyer Abreu hit a solo home run in the top of the second inning to give Boston a 1-0 lead, which aided in matching his single-season career-high in home runs (22).
That 1-0 score remained until the ninth and final frame when the Red Sox finally put some insurance runs on the board.
Andruw Monasterio clubbed a clutch, two-run double to give Boston a three-run cushion over the home team. Since July 1, he’s hitting .333 with 11 doubles, three home runs, and 21 RBI — an unlikely reliable bat for the Red Sox since Trevor Story underwent sports hernia surgery earlier in the year.
Jahmai Jones, who batted in place of the injured Masataka Yoshida, tacked on another run with a RBI single to make it 4-0, which was ultimately the final score.
Gray earned his career-high 15th victory of the season with another spectacular outing. The veteran right-hander went seven strong innings and didn’t allow a run to improve his ERA to 2.65. He gave up six hits, walked one, and struck out seven on the night.
He was happy to have come out of the contest with a win as a team. But like the leader he is, didn’t pay much mind to his personal record after the game.
“It means I have a good team around me,” Gray said when asked about what it means to him to reach a career-best in wins. “It means the guys make plays behind me, and they do all the time. They show up. … You don’t win games by yourself. I like to win. I like winning.”
Gray started the game in a “stopper” type of role. The Red Sox had lost six of their last seven games; the team wasn’t in dire need of a win, but had to come away victorious if they wanted a chance to win the series. They haven’t won a series since sweeping the Chicago White Sox last week.
Interim manager Chad Tracy said Gray didn’t really think about needing to be Boston’s stopper. Tracy noted Gray has a consistent mindset every five days, which has helped him become one of the best starting pitchers in MLB this season.
“I really think Sonny approaches every outing regardless of if it’s stopper or not. He approaches it the same,” Tracy said. “If we’ve won seven in a row, he approaches it with the same level of intent and detail that he always does. I think he understands the responsibility, too, of like, when the team’s going through it, that we need a good outing.”
Tracy admitted, though, the Red Sox needed to give the bullpen some rest. Gray did just that by going seven shut.
“He put up all zeroes. We needed length bad. He gave us length,” Tracy said. “Familiar story in a spot where we really needed it, and he gave it to us.”
Boston and Pittsburgh will face off in a rubber match on Sunday. First pitch between Patrick Sandoval and Lake Bachar (in place of Paul Skenes, who was supposed to start but is going to rest until Wednesday instead) is slated for 1:35 p.m. Eastern Time.
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