Sonny Gray strikes out 11 as Red Sox even series with Rockies

Gabrielle Starr, Boston Herald on Jun 23, 2026

Published in Baseball

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Sonny Gray wrote a unique line for himself in the franchise history books Tuesday night, when he became the first Red Sox pitcher ever with double-digit strikeouts at Colorado’s Coors Field.

The veteran right-hander punched out 11 Rockies batters, surpassing his previous season-high of nine on May 18, in the 5-2 Red Sox victory.

For the second consecutive night, a Red Sox pitcher broke the franchise record for strikeouts at the Rockies’ home field. Jake Bennett struck out nine in the series opener. The previous mark, seven strikeouts, was last matched by John Lackey 16 years ago to the day (June 23, 2010).

Gray yielded one earned run — a solo homer by third baseman Willi Castro in the bottom of the second — on six hits and walked three in seven innings. He threw 93 pitches, 65 for strikes.

“You can just tell he’s been around a long time and he knows what he’s doing out there,” Nate Eaton, who started in left field and bat leadoff, told NESN’s Jahmai Webster on the field postgame.

While Gray put together a big night on the bump, Eaton and right-fielder Wilyer Abreu compiled their own at the plate. Eaton led off and led the lineup with a 3-for-4 performance, a walk, two runs and two RBI. Abreu went 2 for 4 with a walk, run and two RBI. Both men also contributed a stolen base.

Eaton began the game with a walk and scored on Abreu’s RBI triple. Abreu then hit his longest home run of the year, 443 feet to center, in the top of the fifth.

In between, shortstop Andruw Monasterio and catcher Connor Wong drew back-to-back one-out walks in the second; Eaton’s two-out RBI-single scored the former, but the latter was out at third on the throw from left-fielder and 2016 first overall pick Mickey Moniak.

Moniak, it should be noted, has a connection to the Red Sox that began several decades before he was born. His grandfather, Bill Moniak is one of the original “Bonus Babies” signed by the Red Sox out of high school in 1958 (for $25,000, a sizable sum then and equivalent to $288,080 in 2026). The elder Moniak, now 86, played six seasons in the Red Sox farm system from 1958-63, and like Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, was among the young outfielders who benefited from the tutelage of a special batting instructor named Ted Williams at spring training ‘61-63.

The Red Sox handed Rockies left-hander Sean Sullivan the loss. He yielded three earned runs on five hits, issued five walks and struck out three (94 pitches, 57 strikes).

Boston tacked on two runs in the top of the sixth. Anthony Seigler singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Eaton drove him in with an RBI double, then scored himself on Ceddanne Rafaela’s RBI single.

The Red Sox tallied 11 hits and six walks in the contest, and only struck out four times. They were 4 for 11 with runners in scoring position, and left 10 men on base.

Garrett Whitlock, typically Boston’s go-to set-up man, played closer on Tuesday night. Ezequiel Tovar went deep with one out in the ninth, but the righty reliever prevented further damage.

The series wraps up Wednesday afternoon at 3:10 p.m. ET.