KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Interstat) — Sonny Gray pitched six strong innings and Willson Contreras homered to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday at Kauffman Stadium.

Gray allowed five hits and one earned run while striking out nine to improve to 5-1. He earned his third consecutive win after victories May 13 against Philadelphia and May 6 at Detroit. Aroldis Chapman struck out one in a perfect ninth inning for his 11th save.

Boston scored twice in the sixth inning when Contreras hit a two-run homer to left-center field, scoring Mickey Gasper. The Red Sox added a run in the seventh on Jarren Duran’s sacrifice fly that scored Connor Wong.

The Royals answered in the bottom of the seventh when Jac Caglianone doubled to right field, driving in Carter Jensen.

Seth Lugo took the loss, falling to 1-4 after allowing two earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts over six innings.

Boston outhit Kansas City 9-6. The Red Sox improved to 20-27, while the Royals dropped to 20-28. The game drew 15,531 fans and lasted 2 hours, 25 minutes.