Fenway booed Rafael Devers in his first at-bat. He struck out. That was probably the nicest part of the night for San Francisco.
The Red Sox beat the Giants 6-4 on a cool Friday night at Fenway Park, and the game’s defining moment was the bottom of the third. Sonny Gray had just spent part of the top of the frame grinding through a bases-loaded jam—the stuff ace starters have to handle in August—and escaped with only Bryce Eldridge’s RBI to show for it. Then Logan Webb walked out for the bottom half
and things fell apart in about 22 pitches. Hit batters, walks, hits, runs, all of it cascading at once.
Willson Contreras is a baaaaaaad man.
Two outs. Two men on. Contreras drove one 450 feet at 116 mph over the Green Monster, over Lansdowne Street, probably onto the Pike. The longest Fenway home run of the 2026 season. Then Webb faced his own bases-loaded jam, with a walk and a hit by pitch driving in two more. Five runs for Boston in the third. Webb was pulled at 2.2 innings; Roarke Sanmartin inherited the mess and got out of it. Didn’t matter. Sox led 5-1. Mr. Brightside this early into a game was kinda wild.
The Giants didn’t roll over, though. Right away in the fourth, Tyler Gilbert hit a two-run shot off Gray, and then Devers—the villain the whole crowd had been waiting to boo all night—stepped up and went back-to-back. Solo homer, dead center, his 26th. Just like that it was 5-4. Fenway got a little uneasy. Raffy got his moment. That was pretty much it for the Giants, though.
Gray held it together through six innings, 97 pitches, and the bullpen didn’t give an inch. Erik Miller shut the door in the seventh for his 12th hold. Alec Gamboa followed with a clean eighth for his first. Aroldis Chapman struck out three of the four batters he faced in the ninth for his 28th save. Zero hits allowed, six strikeouts combined. Chapman’s ERA sits at 1.90. The late innings are locked in, and Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten working their ways back only makes this scarier.
Wilyer Abreu added insurance in the sixth with an RBI triple off Trent Harris to push the lead back to two. Jarren Duran kept up his hitting streak with a triple into the triangle. Sonny Gray goes to 16-3. I feel like the ship is finally stabilizing as we get through August after the rough road trip to Toronto and Pittsburgh.
Studs
Willson Contreras (2 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 3 RBI, 2 BB)
Four hundred and fifty feet. One hundred and sixteen miles per hour. Over the Monster, over Lansdowne, onto the Pike. Every now and then a home run isn’t just a home run—it’s the moment the whole night turns on. This was that. OB went nuts in the booth, the ball probably still hasn’t landed, and Webb never recovered. Two walks on top of it, Contreras did real damage in two of his four plate appearances. The cut to Devers after Contreras’ shot is honestly a nice shot of schadenfreude.
Wilyer Abreu (4 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 1 RBI, 1 BB)
Three hits and the sixth-inning triple that gave Gray’s bullpen actual room to breathe. Abreu has been one of the most consistent bats in this lineup since the break—his numbers against right-handed pitching look nothing like they did in April—and he was in the middle of multiple Boston rallies all night.
Sonny Gray (6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W 16-3)
Not a dominant outing—the back-to-back Gilbert-Devers shots in the fourth scared me a bit—but this was an ace doing what aces do. He navigated the early jam, absorbed some hard innings, and still gave six. Sixteen wins, three losses. Gray has quietly been the most consistent starter in the American League this year. Cy Young consideration? Are we far enough into the season to start that conversation?
The Bullpen (3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 6 K)
Miller, Gamboa, Chapman. Six strikeouts, no hits, nothing. Gamboa picking up his first hold. Chapman getting his 28th save with three punchouts on 20 pitches. After Gray handed them a two-run lead to protect, the three of them combined to make it feel like ten.
Duds
Andruw Monasterio (3 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 1 RBI, 1 BB, GIDP)
His RBI came on a bases-loaded walk, which is the whole story of his night. The Red Sox went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base, and Monasterio was in the middle of too many of those stranded-runner situations. One double play, zero hits. He’s been too good this season for one bad night to mean much, but this was a bad night.
Mickey Gaspar (3 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 1 RBI)
Reached on a hit-by-pitch to force in a run, but was otherwise invisible at the plate. The DH spot does not belong to him long-term. Roman Anthony’s rehab can’t end fast enough, even with the fun week Evil Mickey is having.
Play of the Game
Contreras. No other words needed.
