Sonny Gray winning isn't exactly news at this point. Wednesday's win was his 14th of the season, adding to his American League lead and tying him with Philadelphia's Christopher Sanchez for the MLB lead. The Red Sox winning is nothing new, either. Wednesday's 4-0 triumph over the Chicago White Sox was their seventh straight victory and their 30th in the last 35 games -- the best 35-game stretch in franchise history.
But the way Gray pitched was certainly notable. This looked way more like the ace who was an automatic quality start from late May through mid-July than the pitcher who suddenly slipped in his two most recent outings.
Gray had one of his worst outings of the season two starts ago, when he gave up five runs on 10 hits in five innings against Toronto. His next outing was better – and did result a win – but he still allowed four runs in seven innings.
Was any of it worth panicking over? Nope. But a third straight subpar start would have made things a bit uncomfortable, especially after the starting rotation was one area where Craig Breslow did not add at the deadline. With Garrett Crochet's outlook still uncertain, Gray is the guy the Red Sox have to count on to be the rock at the front of the rotation.
And he got back to being exactly that on Wednesday. Gray cruised through six scoreless innings, striking out eight while allowing three hits and two walks. He threw just 83 pitches and probably could have gone deeper, but interim manager Chad Tracy felt comfortable turning the game over to Boston's dominant bullpen at that point.
Chad Tracy on Sonny Gray’s six shutout innings Wednesday: “I thought he was awesome. Very locked in.” pic.twitter.com/crhwbFdXEZ
— WEEI (@WEEI) August 6, 2026
Spoiler: the bullpen dominated again, with Tyron Guerrero, Garrett Whitlock and Jovani Moran pitching a scoreless seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.
Offensively, Willson Contreras opened the scoring with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the first. Contreras left the game in the fifth, which briefly led to some concern, but the Red Sox announced that it was due to illness, not injury.
Chad Tracy says Willson Contreras is “good.” Just “a little under the weather.”
Says it’s not related to getting hit in the helmet with a pitch recently. pic.twitter.com/k7j1MUDtLp
— WEEI (@WEEI) August 6, 2026
Wilyer Abreu doubled the lead in the third, belting a solo home run to right – his 20th homer of the season, and his fifth in the last six games. Jarren Duran's speed added an insurance marker in the seventh, as he singled to left, stole second, advanced to third on a bad throw, and then tagged and scored on a shallow sacrifice fly to left from Andruw Monasterio. Caleb Durbin made it 4-0 when he drove in Abreu in the eighth (for Abreu's third run of the game).
The Red Sox will aim to sweep the White Sox – who still lead the AL Central, by the way – for the second time in a month when Ranger Suarez takes the mound against Luis Castillo in Thursday's series finale, with first pitch set for 7:10 p.m.
