Sonny Gray hangs tough as Red Sox sweep Rays for 13th straight win

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Jul 19, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BOSTON — Over the past three weeks the Boston Red Sox starting pitching has been firing on all cylinders, and most days throughout this historic win streak it’s felt like the starter has had his best stuff.

That was not the case for Sonny Gray on Sunday, but the Red Sox veteran battled through and got the job done anyway.

Despite spotty command and tons of early traffic on the bases, Gray held the Tampa Bay Rays at bay and helped deliver the Red Sox their 13th straight win. Gray limited the Rays to a solo inside-the-park home run by Victor Mesa Jr. over six innings, and Willson Contreras connected for a two-run home run in the fifth inning to break things open in the eventual 6-1 Red Sox win.

The Red Sox have now tied their second-longest win streak in franchise history, matching the 13 straight they won from July 18-27, 1948. The team is two wins away from matching the all-time club record of 15 straight set during the 1946 season.

Sunday was exactly the kind of game the Red Sox likely would have lost earlier in the season.

Gray stranded a total of seven Rays baserunners, including two in each of the first three innings. He escaped the first inning unscathed after issuing a walk and a single in the first, but the Rays jumped ahead in the second when Mesa hit a perfectly placed line drive into the gap past Red Sox center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela for an inside-the-park home run.

The ball bounced into the triangle and took Rafaela a beat too long to dig out, and even though the throw to the plate was likely in time, catcher Connor Wong couldn’t receive the ball cleanly, allowing Mesa the first inside-the-parker at Fenway Park since Jarren Duran accomplished the feat on Aug. 23, 2025, against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Gray allowed another single and a walk after the homer but kept it a one-run deficit by recording three straight outs. That allowed the Red Sox to come back and tie the game in the bottom of the second on an RBI double by Andruw Monasterio, and despite continued traffic the Rays couldn’t get anyone else home against Gray the rest of his outing.

Rays starter Shane McClanahan wasn’t so fortunate.

In the bottom of the third the Red Sox pulled off the rare feat of scoring three runs despite not recording a hit in the inning. Jahmai Jones led off with a walk, Wilyer Abreu was hit by a pitch and Contreras walked to load the bases with one out. The go-ahead run came in to score on a checked swing passed ball with Caleb Durbin at the plate, and Durbin extended the lead moments later with a chopper down the third base line that was hit just softly enough for Abreu to beat the throw home.

Romy Gonzalez finished the rally with a run-scoring groundout, and in the top of the fifth Contreras wrapped up the scoring with a two-run bomb to the center-field bleachers, his 22nd homer of the season.

With a comfortable lead Gray finished his outing strong and drew a 4-6-3 double play to end the sixth. He finished with one run allowed over six innings on five hits, four walks and five strikeouts, giving him his ninth consecutive quality start dating back to May 30.

Gray is the first Red Sox starter to record nine or more consecutive quality starts since Chris Sale back in 2018.

Once again the bullpen took care of business and closed things out. Greg Weissert, Jovani Moran and Ryan Watson combined for three scoreless innings to wrap up the win.

By completing a four-game sweep of the Rays the Red Sox are in a place where the AL East title no longer looks unattainable. Boston (50-48) is now only six games back of Tampa Bay (56-42) after at one point trailing by 15 1/2 games in the division.

That was on June 24, the night the Red Sox blew a late lead to cap off a series defeat to the lowly Colorado Rockies. Since then the Red Sox have won 18 of 20 games and will have a chance to further shore up their position in the AL East with the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays coming to town over the rest of this week’s homestand.

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