Red Sox snap four-game skid by breaking out the bats in support of Sonny Gray’s quality start vs. the Rangers
When Sam Kennedy, Red Sox president and CEO, admitted this week that barring a dramatic turnaround the club may have to admit failure on 2026, break up its roster, and sell off pieces at the trade deadline, those in the clubhouse were not surprised or offended or even fazed.
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Red Sox players are no dummies. They know how this works. They must play much better, as they did Friday in a 10-1 win over the Rangers, for an extended period. Or the organization’s decision-makers will have to decide to become sellers in the leadup to the Aug. 3 deadline.
That probably would mean sending righthander Sonny Gray, who held Texas to one run in six innings, to another new team. And considering offers for first baseman Willson Contreras, who had three more hits and another homer. And auctioning off closer Aroldis Chapman to the highest bidder. And re-evaluating whether outfielder Jarren Duran is part of the longer-term plan. And listening on Garrett Whitlock, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Connor Wong, and others.
See, it’s not that the Sox have no good players. It’s just that they haven’t become a good team. They are 28-39, last in the AL East. Friday snapped a four-game losing streak and was just their second win in a stretch of seven games.
“Regardless of if Sam said it or not, the urgency is there. We’re not playing good enough. Don’t blame Sam for saying that,” interim manager Chad Tracy said. “[Players] know when a trade deadline is coming up. They know if the team’s not performing, those things happen.”
Or as injured ace Garrett Crochet put it: “I don’t think we needed that wakeup call. Everyone knows the kind of ball that needs to be played, not only at the big-league level, but here in Boston especially.”
Kennedy merely acknowledged the obvious.
“If you think about that, you’re just putting stuff in your head that has no meaning to me,” Whitlock said. “So it’s like one of those things where it’s [chief baseball officer Craig] Breslow. He does all that stuff. So if it happens, it happens, and I’ll go to a new team, and cool. If it doesn’t happen, I’m still here.”
Wilyer Abreu said: “Of course, if we’re losing, that will probably happen. But at the same time, we’ve got to do our jobs and play the game … and we’ll see what happens at the deadline.”
Friday at Fenway Park, at least, was a big success. In the Sox’ highest-scoring home game of the year, nine of their 12 hits went for extra bases.
Ceddanne Rafaela and Abreu each had a home run, two doubles, and three RBIs. Contreras finished a triple shy of a cycle, scored twice, and drove in two runs.
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They blew the game open with a four-run rally in the fifth inning. Newly installed leadoff hitter Mickey Gasper, Rafaela, and Abreu hit consecutive doubles off the Green Monster. Contreras’s single yielded a throwing error by third baseman Josh Jung, bringing in another run. Caleb Durbin’s sacrifice fly plated Contreras.
“It’s not that cold anymore and … now the balls are getting to the wall,” Rafaela said. “It’s not about hitting doubles at Fenway Park; it’s about winning ballgames, doesn’t matter where. The fans want to see us win here and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Contreras was OK after Tracy and head athletic trainer Brandon Henry checked on him at second base following his hit. He stretched his right quad during the conversation, and seemed to be running gingerly when he scored, but remained in the game.
Gray had a funky first inning, allowing singles to three of the first four Rangers batters, including Wyatt Langford’s RBI knock. But he settled in to record 14 consecutive outs.
By the end, Gray struck out seven, walked none, and worked around five hits. He lowered his ERA to 3.03.
“They jumped him with some early-count hits to start the game, and you’re just watching [and thinking] if he can navigate through it, which he does very well, feel like he’s going to settle in,” Tracy said. “Which is exactly what he did. He was very good.”
An early turning point: After the Rangers (34-35) went ahead in the top of the first, the Red Sox scored two in the bottom of the inning to take what turned out to be a permanent lead. The second run came on Contreras’s homer.
“You give up a run in the first, now you’re going out there pitching in the second with the lead,” Gray said. “That was huge for the mentals.”
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