Red Sox complete their first sweep of season with shutout of Tigers

For someone who didn’t go on a rehab assignment before coming off the injured list, Sonny Gray had a pretty good first game back.

So did the Boston Red Sox, who pulled off a 4-0 win to complete their first series sweep of the season.

Wednesday marked Gray’s first start since April 20, when he exited the Marathon Monday morning game, also a series finale against the Tigers, with a right hamstring injury. Picking up where he left off, Gray needed just 70 pitches (44 strikes) to blank the Tigers for five innings in Detroit. They managed four hits, two walks and struck out twice.

“He gave us everything and then some,” interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters of his starter.

After a 1-2-3 first inning, Gray benefitted from a much-improved Red Sox defense that entered the day leading the majors with 30 Defensive Runs Saved, and with three players leading or tied for the most DRS at their position in right-fielder Wilyer Abreu, third baseman Caleb Durbin and first baseman Willson Contreras.

The Tigers loaded the bases in the second, on a leadoff double by Riley Greene and back-to-back two-out walks to Zach McKinstry and Spencer Torkelson.

Jace Jung’s subsequent liner to right-center would’ve been a calamitous RBI hit against most teams; it had an Expected Batting Average of .540. But not for a team that has Abreu patrolling right field. The back-to-back Gold Glover raced in, made a sliding catch, and managed to hang on as he rolled over.

“Our defense was awesome tonight,” Tracy said. “Wilyer makes a great play, which, in my opinion, changed the course of the game, keeping it zeroes there. And then we score first instead of them.”

“If that ball drops, it’s two-nothing them, they score first and then we’re playing catch-up,” Tracy continued. “We were very, very good on the defensive side. … Everything that goes up in the air in the outfield, in general, I feel like we got a shot at it. They’re awfully good out there.”

Gray worked around multiple baserunners again in the third, and finished his night with a pair of 1-2-3 innings.

“Outside of that little two, three hitter stretch, he was pretty sharp,” Tracy said.

For Tigers starter Jack Flaherty, Thursday night was deja vu all over again. He’d started Marathon Monday, too, and been let down by the defense behind him. Flaherty lasted just 3 1/3 innings that day, during which allowed two unearned runs on three hits, struck out three, and issued a whopping six walks.

Flaherty got off to a much stronger start Wednesday night. He opened with five straight strikeouts and didn’t allow a baserunner in the first two innings.

In five innings, Flaherty racked up 14 swing-and-misses, struck out 10 and issued just one walk. But he exited charged with four runs, two unearned, on three hits.

Despite Flaherty’s dominant first two innings, the Red Sox were ready the third time around. Marcelo Mayer led off the third with a single, and Flaherty plunked catcher Carlos Narváez to put two men on for Durbin, who lined his seventh double of the year to left for a 2-0 lead.

The last two runs of the game came on a costly error by third baseman Colt Keith, which allowed Narvaez to reach and Masataka Yoshida and Ceddanne Rafaela to score in the top of the fourth.

The Red Sox struck out a staggering 15 times, went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Like the Tigers, they only tallied four hits, which made Wednesday the their third win of the year in which they were held to four hits or fewer. For the fourth time in Red Sox history, they won a game in which they struck out at least 15 times and were held to no more than four hits.

“We took a lot of fastballs for strikes, but we grinded at-bats in the third and fourth really, really, really well,” Tracy said. “The at-bat quality in spots that we needed it with people on was really good.”

The Red Sox drew six walks and were aggressive on the bases, stealing three. And thanks to Brayan Bello’s strong seven innings the night before, Boston’s bullpen was rested and ready. The four hits the Tigers managed against Gray proved their only knocks of the night.

Rookie left-hander Tyler Samaniego handled the sixth and seventh, issuing one walk and striking out three.

Zack Kelly pitched himself to the edge of disaster, then masterfully swerved out of harm’s way. After Kevin McGonigle led off with a lineout — another smooth-as-silk sliding catch by Abreu — the righty issued back-to-back walks to Matt Vierling and Keith. With a shutout to protect, Kelly struck out Greene and Dillon Dingler with a pair of cutters.

Greg Weissert needed one pitch to record the first out of the ninth, a Jahmai Jones groundout. McKinstry popped out to Durbin, and Torkelson flew out to make it broom time in Boston.

“It’s been a good week,” Tracy said. “We did a lot of things right. We played great defensively, we ran the bases extremely well, we got the clutch hits that have been missing, we pitched extremely well. So it was a really good, short trip.”

In a season of oddities and bafflements, here’s another: the Red Sox are 16-21, but their five shutout victories are tied for the most in the majors.

A scare for Contreras

Alarm bells rang when Contreras took a beat during a late-game at-bat, to speak with Tracy and a trainer about hand discomfort, especially in light of Roman Anthony’s right wrist sprain during Monday’s series opener.

But Tracy offered reassurances postgame: “It’s popped up … a handful of times over the weeks.