Willson Contreras provides the power Red Sox need to beat Giants in series opener – The Boston Globe

“I put my head down and my arms up,” Abreu said, “because I knew it was going to go out.”

Contreras’s three-run home run was his 26th long ball of the year and produced a lead the Red Sox never relinquished. They have won three out of four games this homestand to improve to 69-59.

“I heard everyone else talking about it, talking about ‘pa la calle, pa la calle,’” said Sonny Gray, who was down the tunnel from the dugout, preparing for his next inning.

That is Spanish for “to the street.”

“So, yeah, it was pa la calle,” Gray concluded.

Webb answered by completely melting down. A pair of singles and a hit batsman loaded the bases. Webb walked Andruw Monasterio to force in a run and hit Mickey Gasper with a pitch to force in another. By the end of his 2⅔ innings, he had allowed five runs.

Gray (six innings, four runs) almost let it all get away. In the next half-inning, Drew Gilbert and Rafael Devers — in his return to Fenway Park, 14 months after the Sox dumped him and his contract in a trade with the Giants — hit home runs on back-to-back pitches.

In a blink, San Francisco (52-76) had cut the deficit from four to one.

“After the fourth, I came in and I was [ticked] and upset, and [pitching coach Andrew Bailey] just simply said, ‘Hey, we’re still winning the game,’” Gray said. “And I was kind of like, you know what? You’re right. We’re still winning the game.”

Gray threw eight pitches to retire Willy Adames to end the fourth, eight more in a perfect fifth, and a final eight in the sixth.

“I was happy and proud to get through six,” he said. “I just felt a little off, and that’s OK. Boys picked me up big time.”

Interim manager Chad Tracy said: “We were like, are we going to be able to get him through five? And you’re able to get them through six with two zeros to finish it, and put us in a better spot with the bullpen.”

That was key on another night with a shorthanded relief corps. Tyron Guerrero was unavailable because of his recent workload, Tracy said.

Each of the final three innings — during which the Sox’ fate never really seemed in doubt — came with a fun footnote.

In the seventh, lefthander Erik Miller faced his former team for the first time. He struck out two in a perfect frame; he is up to eight appearances and no earned runs with the Sox, who acquired him from the Giants (for Marcelo Mayer) on Aug. 3.

“It was cool,” Miller said. “It’s weird, obviously, to look up and see your team in the batter’s box. You’re so used to watching them when you’re on the team. But it was fun.”

In the eighth, sans Guerrero, Tracy turned to Alec Gamboa, a 29-year-old rookie lefty. He needed just 11 pitches to retire the side in order in an unofficial high-leverage audition.

“It was crazy. It was good. I liked it. Enjoyable,” said Gamboa, who has a 1.40 ERA in 11 appearances. “I was definitely surprised. [When the bullpen phone rang] I’m looking down, like, who’s this gonna be? I’m looking in the pen, who’s hot, who’s not, what’s going on? But it’s the same mentality when I go out there in any other situation.”

And in the ninth, Aroldis Chapman worked around a one-out walk. When he fanned Jonah Cox for the last out, he stranded a runner on first base — and stranded Devers in the on-deck circle.

Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.