Gray meets mile-high expectations with season-high 11 K's and one run in seven innings

DENVER -- Sonny Gray has often said, “I can spin the ball on the moon,” and Tuesday night, he pretty much proved it, giving a master class in pitching at altitude at Coors Field, a lunar launching pad for happy hitters and a place most pitchers don’t mind missing.

“This place, if you give it an inch in your mental space, then it can start to take over,” Gray said after giving the Red Sox a second dominating pitching performance from a starter in as many nights. “Once you start making excuses, then it wears on you and you lose your confidence. I’m tricking my mind into believing that it can do anything.”

The trick worked, as Gray paced the Red Sox to a 5-2 victory to even the series and set up a Wednesday rubber match finale.

Gray pitched seven innings and allowed just one run on six hits and three walks while striking out a season-high 11 and matching his season high with 93 pitches.

His biggest adjustment came after issuing a walk to the first batter he faced.

“I just flipped my mindset, said some things to myself … that I needed to hear in that moment … and felt more normal, back to myself,” Gray said. “This team is super-aggressive, but we filled up the zone early, and we put the ball in some really good spots. We were able to take advantage of the aggressiveness.”

His only blemish was a 435-foot homer to right in the second inning from Willi Castro.

“[Gray] was exceptional,” manager Chad Tracy said. “He's had a lot of good outings since we've been here, and that one ranked up there with 11 strikeouts. People talk a lot about the altitude, but he was able to spin the ball, got a lot of swing-and-misses on breaking balls below and changeups. He was just really, really good.”

It was Gray’s ninth start since coming back from the injured list on May 6, and he improved to 7-0 since his return.

Paired with Jake Bennet’s six scoreless innings in Monday’s loss, Sox starters have allowed one run in 13 innings while striking out 20 in the series’ first two tilts.

“We scored early, which has sometimes been an issue, got a lead, and then tacked on in the middle innings,” Tracy said. “As Sonny kept doing his thing and putting up zeros, we did a nice job of tacking on runs in the middle innings.”

Wilyer Abreu drove in Boston’s first run in the first frame, launching his second triple of the season to the right-center-field gap and plating Nate Eaton, who opened the game with a walk and a stolen base.

“When I saw the ball, [when I was] running between first base and second base, I thought I had a chance, so I kept going,” Abreu said, noting he wasn’t thinking triple out of the box.

Eaton singled in another run in the second on a drive to left. He was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a single, a walk, a steal, two runs and two RBIs.

“Starting in the leadoff spot, getting on base that way and then being able to get a steal in there and Wilyer hitting one in the gap, being able to score, put a run up early – that definitely puts you in the driver's seat as a team," Tracy said. "That helped everybody get going.”

It was exactly what Tracy hoped for when he penciled in Eaton at the top of the lineup for the first time this season.

“He was great, his at-bats were good all night, extra-base hits, did a nice job in the outfield,” Tracy said. “He gave us a good spark today.”

Abreu added a third run in the fifth when he smashed a drive 443 feet into the center-field bullpen.

“I hit the sweeper in the first at-bat, so I prepared for the second at-bat for the fastball,” Abreu said. “I knew he was going to throw it to me, because I already hit the sleeper.”

Eaton increased the lead in the sixth with a run-scoring double, then came around to score on Ceddanne Rafaela’s subsequent single to left.

The Rockies closed the gap against Garrett Whitlock with a one-out solo shot from Ezequiel Tovar before Whitlock closed the door and secured Gray’s win.

The Red Sox improved to 20-20 on the road and are poised to build momentum before heading home to Fenway Thursday.