Ceddanne Rafaela shines as Boston Red Sox crush Texas Rangers 10-1

BOSTON (AP) — Ceddanne Rafaela homered and had three RBIs, Sonny Gray allowed one run in six innings and the Boston Red Sox rolled to a 10-1 win over the Texas Rangers on Friday night.

Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu also homered for the Red Sox, who came in with an MLB-worst 10-21 record at home. Rafaela also had two doubles, with the second driving in a run as part of Boston’s four-run fifth inning.

Gray (8-1) allowed one run and three hits in the first and then retired 14 straight before giving up a hit to open the sixth to Joc Pederson, who led off the game with a single and scored on a hit by Wyatt Langford.

Gray struck out seven and walked none while improving to 6-0 in seven starts since being reinstated from the 15-day injured list on May 6. He lowered his ERA from 3.20 to 3.03.

Contreras hit his 14th home run in the first inning, which came after Abreu lifted a sacrifice fly that tied it at 1. Abreu launched a solo homer in the seventh, while Rafaela connected for a two-run shot in the eighth.

The mound matchup featured two pitchers who attended the same university (Vanderbilt) and were drafted in the first round exactly 10 years apart. Boston’s Gray was taken by the Athletics in 2011, while Jack Leiter was selected by the Rangers in 2021.

Leiter (3-6) allowed six runs — five earned — and eight hits in five innings. The right-hander struck out three and walked two while dropping his second straight start after winning back-to-back starts in late May.

Rangers outfielder Evan Carter was removed from Friday’s game with what the team described as right oblique soreness.