BOSTON (Interstat) – Sonny Gray pitched six innings of five-hit ball and Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Willson Contreras each drove in multiple runs as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Texas Rangers 10-1 on Friday night at Fenway Park.

Gray allowed one earned run, struck out seven and walked none to improve to 8-1. The right-hander retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced after a shaky first inning. Jack Leiter took the loss for Texas, falling to 3-6 after allowing six runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.

The game drew 33,919 fans and lasted 2 hours, 46 minutes.

Texas struck first in the top of the first inning. Joc Pederson led off with a single to left field. Josh Jung followed with a single to left, moving Pederson to third. After Brandon Nimmo struck out, Wyatt Langford singled to left, scoring Pederson and sending Jung to second. But Gray settled in, striking out Ezequiel Duran and Evan Carter to end the inning with Texas up 1-0.

The Red Sox answered immediately in the bottom half. Mickey Gasper walked. Ceddanne Rafaela grounded into a force out, but Wilyer Abreu lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Rafaela to tie the game. Willson Contreras then crushed a 1-0 pitch over the center-field wall, his 14th homer of the season, to give Boston a 2-1 lead. Jarren Duran singled, but Caleb Durbin lined out to end the inning.

Gray took command from there. He retired the side in order in the second, third and fourth innings. The Rangers managed only a two-out single by Pederson in the sixth and a one-out double by Langford in the same frame, but Ezequiel Duran grounded out to leave both runners stranded.

Boston broke the game open in the fifth inning. Gasper led off with a double to center. Rafaela followed with a sharp double to left, scoring Gasper to make it 3-1. Abreu then doubled to left, plating Rafaela for a 4-1 lead. Contreras singled to third, and a throwing error by third baseman Josh Jung allowed Abreu to score and Contreras to advance to second, making it 5-1. After Jarren Duran grounded out, advancing Contreras to third, Durbin hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Contreras for a 6-1 advantage. Isiah Kiner-Falefa lined out to end the burst.

Texas put two runners on base in the sixth but could not score. Pederson singled and Langford doubled, but Gray got Ezequiel Duran to ground out to shortstop to preserve the five-run lead.

The Red Sox padded their lead in the seventh. Abreu led off with a solo homer to center, his eighth of the season, making it 7-1. Contreras was hit by a pitch, but Jarren Duran struck out, Durbin lined out and Kiner-Falefa grounded into a force out to end the inning.

Boston added three more in the eighth against Texas reliever Luis Curvelo. Connor Wong walked. Gasper grounded out, moving Wong to second. Rafaela then launched a two-run homer to left-center, his seventh of the season, extending the lead to 9-1. Abreu followed with a double to center, and Contreras doubled to center, scoring Abreu for the final 10-1 margin. Jarren Duran flied out to end the inning.

The Rangers went quietly in the ninth against Danny Coulombe. Langford flied out, Ezequiel Duran struck out swinging and Justin Foscue popped out to first base.

Ceddanne Rafaela finished 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and three RBIs. Wilyer Abreu went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and three RBIs. Willson Contreras was 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and two RBIs. Texas managed six hits, with Joc Pederson and Wyatt Langford each collecting two.

The Rangers fell to 34-35, while the Red Sox improved to 28-39. Texas entered the game having won two of its last three, including a 4-2 victory at Kansas City the previous day. Boston had dropped three straight before Friday’s victory.

The teams meet again Saturday for the second game of the three-game series. Texas returns home to face the Minnesota Twins on Monday, while Boston hosts the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.

The turning point came in the fifth inning, when Boston sent nine men to the plate and scored four runs to stretch a one-run lead to five. The rally began with three consecutive doubles by Gasper, Rafaela and Abreu, followed by Contreras’ run-scoring single. The burst knocked Leiter from the game and gave Gray all the support he needed.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Texas 6, Boston 3. Interstat’s ELO system gave Boston a 52.30 percent probability to win. The Red Sox were installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total of 11 runs went under the over-under line of 8.