Red Sox beat the Rockies 5-2 behind Sonny Gray’s 11 strikeouts

DENVER (AP) — Wilier Abreu and Nate Eaton each drove in two runs to back up an 11-hit performance from Sonny Gray and the Boston Red Sox beat the Colorado Rockies 5-2 on Tuesday night.

Gray (9-1) allowed a run on six hits with three walks in seven innings. The right-hander’s 11 strikeouts were a season-high and he matched his season-high with 93 pitches — 65 for strikeouts.

Justin Slatten pitched a scoreless eighth, and Garrett Whitlock gave up Ezequiel Tovar’s solo homer in the ninth to close it out.

Eaton, who went 3-for-4, walked to lead off the game against rookie left-hander Sean Sullivan (0-2) in his third start. Eaton stole second base and scored Abreu’s triple.

Eaton had a two-out RBI single to take a 2-0 lead in the second inning, and Abreu homered for the 10th time to make it 3-1 in the fifth inning.

Eaton got an RBI double off Zach Agnos before scoring on Ceddanne Rafaela’s single for a 5-1 lead in the sixth inning.

Willie Castro hit his sixth home run — a one-hit shot from 435 feet to the upper deck in right field in the second — in Colorado’s first inning.

Sullivan allowed three runs on five hits and five walks in five innings. Agnos gave up two runs on five hits in three innings.

The Red Sox improved to 20-20 on the road a day after leading off the ninth for the first time this season on Jake McCarthy’s bases-loaded triple in a 3-2 loss.

Red Sox LHP Ranger Suarez (3-3, 2.93 ERA) starts Wednesday’s rubber match versus Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (1-7, 7.36).