Wilyer Abreu homered and tripled, Sonny Gray struck out a season-high 11 over seven innings and the Boston Red Sox beat the Colorado Rockies 5-2 in Denver on Tuesday night.
Nate Eaton had three hits and Anthony Seigler had two for Boston.
Gray (9-1) matched his season high in innings, set in his last outing, and allowed one run on six hits and walked three.
Willi Castro and Ezequiel Tovar homered and Troy Johnston finished with two hits for Colorado.
Rockies lefty Sean Sullivan, in his third career start and first at home, had control issues early. He issued five walks over the first three innings, with two of those batters scoring.
Two of the walks came in the third, and a balk put runners on second and third with one out. He escaped when he struck out Jarren Duran and got Caleb Durbin to ground out.
The Red Sox cashed in the first base on balls, which led off the game. Eaton stole second and scored on Abreu’s triple to center. Eaton’s single in the second brought home Andruw Monasterio to make it 2-0.
Colorado got one back in the bottom of the second on Castro’s 435-foot home run to right, his sixth of the season. The Rockies had a chance to add on when Johnston followed with a double, but he was stranded at third.
Abreu extended Boston’s advantage when he led off the fifth with his 10th home run of the season.
Sullivan (0-2) allowed three runs on five hits and struck out three in five innings.
Boston struck again in the sixth against reliever Zach Agnos. With two outs, Siegler singled, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Eaton’s double. Ceddanne Rafaela followed with a single to make it 5-1.
Colorado had runners on first and third with one out in the seventh, but Gray struck out Mickey Moniak and got TJ Rumfield on a fielder’s choice. Tovar hit a solo shot in the ninth inning, his sixth of the season.
–Field Level Media
