DETROIT (Interstat) — Sonny Gray pitched five innings in his return from injury and the Boston Red Sox finished a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers with a 4-0 win on Wednesday night at Comerica Park.

Gray, making his first start since leaving a game against the Tigers on April 20 at Fenway Park with a strained hamstring, allowed four hits and two walks while striking out two. He departed after the fifth inning with a 4-0 lead, and Boston’s bullpen combined for four scoreless innings, with Tyler Samaniego, Greg Weissert and Zack Kelly each tossing scoreless frames. Samaniego struck out three over two innings, Weissert worked a perfect eighth and Kelly fanned two in the ninth.

Jack Flaherty took the loss for Detroit, surrendering four runs, two earned, on three hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out 10 but was hurt by a two-run third inning by Boston and a two-run fourth that included a costly error.

The Red Sox struck first in the top of the third. Marcelo Mayer led off with a single that deflected off shortstop Kevin McGonigle. Carlos Narváez was hit by a pitch, bringing up Caleb Durbin, who doubled to left field, scoring Mayer and sending Narváez to third. Jarren Duran grounded out, and Willson Contreras lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Narváez and making it 2-0. Wilyer Abreu flied out to end the inning.

Detroit threatened in the bottom of the second when Riley Greene led off with a double, but the Tigers left the bases loaded. Zach McKinstry and Spencer Torkelson drew two-out walks after Greene’s double, but Jace Jung lined out to right fielder Wilyer Abreu. In the third, the Tigers put two runners on with singles by Matt Vierling and Colt Keith, and Greene added a single to load the bases with two outs, but Dillon Dingler flied out to center.

Boston added two more runs in the fourth. Masataka Yoshida singled, and Ceddanne Rafaela walked. After Mayer struck out, Narváez reached on a fielding error by third baseman Colt Keith, allowing Yoshida and Rafaela to score and extending the lead to 4-0. Durbin struck out to end the inning.

Flaherty settled in after that, retiring the side in order in the fifth and striking out three of the four batters he faced in the sixth. But Detroit’s offense could not solve Boston’s pitching. Samaniego worked a 1-2-3 sixth, and after allowing a walk and a single in the seventh, he struck out Greene and Dingler to escape. Kelly closed the game with a perfect ninth.

The Red Sox finished with four hits, matching the Tigers’ total. Durbin was 1 for 4 with a double and an RBI. Yoshida had two singles. Gray earned his third win of the season and improved to 3-1.

Detroit’s loss dropped the Tigers to 18-20, while Boston improved to 16-21. The attendance was announced at 17,334, and the game lasted 2 hours, 57 minutes.

The most important part of the game occurred in the bottom of the second inning, when Gray worked out of a bases-loaded jam with two outs and the game still scoreless. After Greene’s double and walks to McKinstry and Torkelson, Gray got Jung to line out to right field, preserving the tie. That allowed Boston to take the lead in the third and never look back, as Gray and the bullpen kept Detroit off the board.

The sweep completed a three-game road trip for Boston, which had won the series opener 5-4 on Monday and then erupted for 10 runs in a 10-3 victory Tuesday. Boston returns home to host the Tampa Bay Rays for a four-game series beginning Thursday, then welcomes the Philadelphia Phillies for three games, followed by a road trip to Atlanta.

Detroit heads to Kansas City for a three-game series starting Friday, then visits the New York Mets and returns home to host Toronto and Cleveland.

Before the game, the Interstat game simulator had projected a final score of Boston Red Sox 5, Detroit Tigers 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave Detroit a 51.00 percent probability to win. Detroit was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total score of 4 went over the over-under line of 8.