Sunny days continue as Red Sox complete four-game sweep of East-leading Rays, run historic win streak to 13 straight

The Tracy Transformation continues.

On Sunday, the Red Sox reached lengths unseen since Ted Williams’s prime. A 6-1 victory over the AL East-leading Rays was their 13th consecutive win, tied for the second-longest run in franchise history with a 13-gamer in 1948, and two games shy of the 15-game gold standard from 1946.

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It featured plenty of oddities. Sox starter Sonny Gray lacked his typical precision, issuing a season-high four walks while throwing just 54 percent of his pitches for strikes. But the Rays were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position against him, as Gray (12-1, 2.48 ERA) allowed just one run and stranded seven runners over six innings. Thus, he recorded his ninth straight quality start — the longest streak by a Sox pitcher since Chris Sale in 2018.

The one run the Rays scored against Gray came on a Victor Mesa Jr. inside-the-park homer that pinballed around Fenway’s Triangle, resulting in a 360-foot sprint that gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead in top of the second. But the Sox tied it in the bottom of the inning on Andruw Monasterio’s RBI double, then took charge of the game with a rarity of a rally in the third.

The Sox scored three runs off Rays starter Shane McClanahan without benefit of a hit. They loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a hit batter, then scored runs on three straight pitches: A passed ball, a fielder’s choice grounder on which Rays third baseman Junior Caminero’s throw clipped Wilyer Abreu’s elbow as the outfielder slid into the plate, and an RBI groundout by Romy Gonzalez.

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The burst put the Sox ahead, 4-1, giving Gray room to cruise. The Sox added to their advantage when Willson Contreras sliced an opposite-field, two-run homer over the Sox bullpen in right-center in the fifth inning for a 6-1 lead. It was the 22nd of the year for Contreras, two longballs shy of his career high.

With the win — observed by a boisterous announced Fenway contingent of 32,950 — the Sox improved to 50-48, their first time all season beign two games better than .500. 

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