Sonny Gray shines again, and the Red Sox make it two straight wins at the Angels to start grinding road trip – The Boston Globe

In Boston, even after a successful homestand, the Sox are 17-27 — thus the overall 39-48 record record that has them stuck in the bottom third of the league.

What’s up with that?

“That’s a really good question, because it doesn’t feel a whole lot different to me,” Connor Wong said. “I feel like we’re the same group of guys trying to do the same thing.”

Interim manager Chad Tracy said: “I just think we’re playing well on the road. Give us credit, too. We played well at home last, so hopefully it’s just a ‘we’re playing well’ thing. But we have done that the majority of the year.”

This one featured a little of everything: Home runs from Willson Contreras and Romy Gonzalez, a strong start from Sonny Gray, and three double plays turned by the infield.

The Angels (36-54) totaled four hits, and just one after the third inning.

The Red Sox have won seven of their past nine games overall.

“That was a fight,” said Gray, whose 2.61 ERA is second in the American League. “That was just one that you grind through and you try to figure out a way to get better as it goes on. It wasn’t easy, but I’m happy to win.”

That was an unexpected take from Gray, given that he held the Angels to one run and four hits in six innings. The righthander struck out seven and walked two.

Unlike in his previous outing, when he took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning against the Yankees, Gray eliminated the drama early. Josh Lowe homered — an estimated 437 feet to center field — in the second.

Gray’s most significant wobbling came immediately thereafter, when Jo Adell walked and Wade Meckler singled. Following a mound visit from pitching coach Andrew Bailey, Gray recovered by striking out Donovan Walton and Tyler Heineman, both flailing at sweepers well below the strike zone.

Across the rest of his night, Gray faced just one more than the minimum number of batters, using a pair of double-play grounders to help him stay efficient and effective.

“Definitely wasn’t at my best,” he said, referencing that he had trouble recovering “physically, mentally.” “Finally able to settle down there after the second.”

Before the game, Gray found out he was not selected for the All-Star Game, which he admitted was disappointing “for sure.”

“Used a lot of stuff for fuel tonight,” he said without getting specific. “Maybe that was a little part of something. I was a little bummed.”

Tracy pulled Gray after just 70 pitches because of the game situation.

“We had a sizable lead, full bullpen, some guys that haven’t thrown,” Tracy explained. “It felt like we had a pretty good handle on it. And after pushing him hard with the potential no-hitter last time, just felt like it was good to give him a little extra breather.”

The Red Sox struck early against left-handed starter Sam Aldegheri, who walked two of his first three batters — after getting ahead in the count, 1-2, on both. Contreras blasted a no-doubt, three-run home run to left field to boost the Sox to a fast, sizable lead after just one out.

That was the only hit Aldegheri allowed across four innings and 88 pitches, but he had twice as many walks (four) as strikeouts (two) and his ERA jumped to 5.08.

As soon as Aldegheri exited, the Sox blew it open against rookie reliever Samy Natera Jr., who had been quite good across his first month in the majors (0.84 ERA, 15 strikeouts in 10⅔ innings).

Anthony Seigler slapped a double inside the first-base line, and Ceddanne Rafaela drew a walk. Wilyer Abreu smoked a double off the right-field wall, scoring both. Rafaela hesitated coming around third base, but — after the Angels made a delayed throw to try to get Abreu at second — went for it.

With two outs, Gonzalez hammered a slider over the middle of the plate to left field. It eked over the short wall for a two-run homer, his first long ball of the year (in his fifth game).

“We … got three big swings from the big boys,” Tracy said. “Between Willson, Romy, and Abreu — all those are multiple-run extra-base hits, and those are huge. But it starts with the at-bats before and putting people on and taking our base when it’s given to us.”

Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.