Sonny Gray feeling more like himself with Red Sox and matches career high with AL-best 14th win

BOSTON (AP) — Sonny Gray and the surging Boston Red Sox are on quite a roll together.

Gray pitched three-hit ball and struck out eight over six innings for his American League-leading 14th victory, with the crafty 36-year-old right-hander also matching his career high, as Boston beat the Chicago White Sox 4-0 on Wednesday night. The Red Sox have won seven in a row and 30 of 35.

“He was awesome, very locked in. … Executed his pitches, had his spin. Pretty much had spin whenever he wanted to,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “Looked like vintage Sonny. He was really good.”

The Red Sox acquired Gray (14-2) from St. Louis in a trade early last offseason. The three-time All-Star, who was left off this year’s AL squad, is providing the veteran presence Boston was hoping for.

After allowing nine runs over his previous two starts, Gray got 17 swing-and-misses from the White Sox, including the third strike on each of his strikeouts. He needed only seven pitches in a 1-2-3 second inning, then struck out the side in the fourth.

“I just felt like I was, you know, a little closer to just being myself, and that’s a good feeling,” said Gray, who has a 2.78 ERA in 21 starts.

He matched Philadelphia left-hander Cristopher Sánchez (14-4) for the major league lead in wins. Gray also had 14-win seasons for Oakland in 2014 and 2016, and was 14-8 in 32 starts for the Cardinals last season.

Gray gave up four runs over seven innings in a win over the Athletics his previous start last Thursday. The came five days after allowing 10 hits and five runs — both season highs — against Toronto in his only loss in 16 starts since early May after coming back from being on the 15-day injured list with a right hamstring strain.

Asked what he had focused on between starts, Gray said it was attention to detail and creating an edge.

“Finding an edge, spinning the ball, that’s who I am,” he said. “There’s a lot of little things that add up, I don’t think it’s one thing.”

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