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

DENVER (AP) — Wilyer Abreu and Nate Eaton drove in two runs each to back an 11-strikeout 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 strikes.

Justin Slaten 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) making his third start. Eaton stole second base and scored on Abreu’s triple.

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

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

Willi Castro hit his sixth home run — a one-out 435-foot shot to the upper deck in right field in the second — for Colorado’s first run.

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 one day after blowing a lead in 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 game opposite Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (1-7, 7.36).