BOSTON (AP) — Sonny Gray pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings, and the Boston Red Sox took advantage of three walks and two infield hits to score three times in the third inning on Wednesday and beat Milwaukee 5-0 for their first back-to-back wins of the season.
Gray (2-0) allowed three hits and two walks, striking out two. Shane Drohan took the loss in his major league debut, giving up three runs on three hits and four walks — most of it in the third, when he walked both Andruw Monasterio and Caleb Durbin, two of the players he was traded for in February.
Ceddanne Rafaela led off the third inning with a single and took second when Isiah Kiner-Falefa beat the throw on a bunt. Monasterio drew a one-out walk to load the bases, then Drohan walked Willson Contreras to force home the first run.
Wilyer Abreu’s hard chopper bounced off the second baseman to shortstop Joey Ortiz, whose throw to first was late, scoring another run. Trevor Story’s sacrifice fly made it 3-0.
Drohan was pulled after walking Durbin to reload the bases before Grant Anderson retired Carlos Narváez on a groundout to end the inning.
The Brewers threatened in the seventh, when Joey Ortiz took a 3-2 pitch that was called a walk to load the bases. The Red Sox challenged the pitch; the ABS system overturned the call for an inning-ending strikeout.
Boston added two runs in the bottom half with three straight singles, followed by a replay challenge that showed Durbin beat the relay to first on what had been called an inning-ending double play.
Up next
Milwaukee: Off Thursday before opening a three-game series in Washington. RHP Chad Patrick (1-0) will face righty Jake Irvin (1-1).
Boston: After a day off, the Red Sox open a three-game series in St. Louis, with LHP Connelly Early (0-0) facing righty Dustin May (0-2).
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
