At this point the Boston Red Sox pitching and defense is performing exactly as advertised, so when Sonny Gray goes out and pitches a gem it’s not a huge surprise. The question, as always, is can the Red Sox offense do anything to give their starter a lift?

Monday night in Kansas City, the bats gave Gray enough.

Willson Contreras hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to put the Red Sox ahead, and that was all the offense Gray and the bullpen needed to pull out a 3-1 win in the series opener.

Gray struck out nine and allowed one run over six-plus innings, and Jarren Duran added a sacrifice fly in the seventh to give the Red Sox a little extra breathing room.

Runs were hard to come by for both teams through the first half of the game. The Red Sox got plenty of traffic but only one good scoring chance through the fifth inning. That came in the fourth when Masataka Yoshida hit a two-out triple but was stranded after Andruw Monasterio struck out in the next at bat.

Kansas City had a golden opportunity in the bottom of the second when Salvador Perez was hit by a pitch and Jac Caglianone doubled to put men at second and third with one out. Gray buckled down and struck out Isaac Collins and drew a Michael Massey groundout to escape unscathed, and the Royals didn’t get another chance until the fifth when Massey doubled but was subsequently thrown out at the plate by Yoshida on a Kyle Isbel single.

The Red Sox finally broke through in the sixth when Mickey Gasper hit a leadoff single and scored on Contreras’ two-run homer, a 435-foot no doubter that would have been out in every MLB ballpark.

Kansas City starter Seth Lugo finished with two runs allowed over six innings with five hits, two walks and five strikeouts. Once the Royals went to the bullpen in the seventh Connor Wong hit a leadoff double and scored on Duran’s sacrifice fly off right-hander Alex Lange to extend the lead to 3-0.

The Royals eventually got to Gray in the bottom of the seventh when Carter Jensen drew a leadoff walk and Caglianone drove him in with an RBI double to chase the Red Sox starter from the game. But Justin Slaten came on and cleaned things up, preserving Gray’s line of one run allowed over six-plus innings with five hits, one walk, a hit batsman and nine strikeouts.

Gray’s outing continued an encouraging trend for the Red Sox rotation. Excluding openers, Red Sox starters have allowed two earned runs or fewer in 11-of-14 outings dating back to May 1.

The nine strikeouts was also a season-high for Gray, who has recorded at least six strikeouts in back-to-back outings after tallying three or fewer in each of the prior five starts before.

Following Slaten’s perfect seventh, Garrett Whitlock tossed a scoreless eighth and Aroldis Chapman finished things off to lock down his 11th save of the season.

Though three runs proved sufficient, Monday wasn’t exactly the breakthrough the offense has been looking for. Boston has now scored three runs or fewer in nine straight games dating back to May 8, and overall the club has scored three or fewer in 29 of 47 games (61.7%).

The Red Sox (20-27) will look to keep swinging on Tuesday. Ranger Suarez (2-2, 2.44) is slated to start for the Red Sox with first pitch scheduled for 7:40 p.m. ET.

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