Sonny Gray's near no-hitter, Jarren Duran's walk-off complete Red Sox four-game sweep of Yankees

Sonny Gray looked destined to author one of the best pitching performances of the Red Sox season, carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning Sunday night against the Yankees.

By the end of the night, though, Gray’s brilliance had taken a backseat to late-game chaos.

After New York rallied from two runs down in the ninth to tie the game, Jarren Duran played the hero, delivering a walk-off hit to cap a wild 5-4 Red Sox win and complete a stunning four-game sweep of the second-place Yankees.

With the 10th inning comeback, the Red Sox completed their first four-game sweep since last August in Baltimore.

Holding a 2-0 lead entering the ninth, the Red Sox handed the ball to Aroldis Chapman, who failed to slam the door shut on the Bronx Bombers.

José Caballero opened the inning with a single to left, and Anthony Volpe followed with a walk to put the tying runs on base.

The Yankees cut the deficit in half on a costly defensive mistake. Ben Rice lifted a deep fly ball to right field that Wilyer Abreu caught with Caballero tagging up to third. Abreu’s throw, however, sailed past the cutoff man and skipped between third base and home plate, allowing Caballero to score and move Volpe into scoring position.

One batter later, Paul Goldschmidt chopped a grounder to shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng. He fired home in an attempt to cut down Volpe, but the Yankees shortstop slid in safely to tie the game at 2-2.

New York seized its first lead in the 10th inning. Amed Rosario lined a sinking fly ball to right that Abreu nearly hauled in with a sliding catch, but the ball skipped past him. His throw home then kicked away from the cutoff, allowing Rosario to advance to second. The ghost runner, Max Schuemann, scored, making it 3-2. 

Rosario moved to third on Oswaldo Cabrera’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Austin Wells’ fielder’s choice, giving the Yankees a 4-2 lead.

The Red Sox had no intention of letting the Yankees leave Fenway with a win, and they proved it in the bottom of the 10th.

Anthony Seigler immediately cut the deficit to 4-3 with a leadoff RBI single. Moments later, Masataka Yoshida came off the bench to pinch-hit for Connor Wong and laced a double, putting the tying and winning runs in scoring position.

That set the stage for Cheng, who tied the game with a sacrifice fly before Duran delivered the knockout blow. Duran lined a walk-off single into right field, sending the Fenway crowd into a frenzy and completing one of Boston’s most satisfying wins of the season.

The four-game sweep of the Yankees was the Red Sox’ first since they swept Baltimore from Aug. 25-28 last season and extended their winning streak to a season-best four games.

Boston (36-46) still has plenty of ground to make up in the American League playoff race, but after sinking to a season-worst 14 games under .500 earlier this week in Colorado, the club has finally begun to build some much-needed momentum.

Even with Boston’s thrilling comeback, the biggest story of Sunday night was Gray.

Just as rookie left-handers Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett had done in the previous two games, Gray completely neutralized the Yankees early, holding them hitless the first time through the order. He needed 13 pitches or fewer to retire the side in each of the first three innings and looked in complete command from the outset.

Gray’s bid for a perfect game ended with two outs in the fifth when he walked Rosario, but he quickly regrouped by inducing a groundout to preserve the no-hitter.

He breezed through a perfect sixth inning, punctuated by a called third strike on Jazz Chisholm Jr. that ignited tempers. Chisholm vehemently argued the checked-swing call and had to be restrained by Yankees coaches as he charged toward home plate. While manager Aaron Boone attempted to calm him down, Chisholm slammed his helmet to the ground and was ejected by the first-base umpire.

He entered the seventh having thrown just 74 pitches, leaving a no-hit bid well within reach. Gray retired the Yankees in order once again, needing only 17 pitches to finish the inning and bringing his pitch count to 91.

One out into the eighth, Gray reached another milestone, striking out Spencer Jones for the 2,000th strikeout of his major league career.

He became just the seventh active pitcher to reach the milestone, joining Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Gerrit Cole, Yu Darvish and Kevin Gausman.

The only thing missing from Gray’s masterpiece was the no-hitter.

Rosario, who had broken up the perfect game three innings earlier, lined a one-out single up the middle in the eighth to end Gray’s no-hit bid. That also brought an end to his night.

As interim manager Chad Tracy walked to the mound, the Fenway Park crowd rose to its feet. Gray tipped his cap to the fans before making his way back to the dugout after one of the finest starts by a Red Sox pitcher this season.

Boston’s offense managed just two runs against Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodón, but they made the most of the opportunities they were given.

Rodón wasn’t nearly as sharp as Gray, issuing four walks over five innings, including free passes to Abreu in each of his first two plate appearances. The second walk sparked the Red Sox’ only rally against the Yankees starter.

After Abreu reached to open the fourth inning, Willson Contreras smoked a line drive to third that Cabrera couldn’t handle cleanly, allowing Contreras to reach on an error. Romy González then moved both runners into scoring position with a groundout before Caleb Durbin delivered Boston’s first hit of the evening, lining a two-run single into center field for a 2-0 lead.

Rodón’s troubles continued as he walked Seigler and Wong to load the bases, but the Red Sox missed a chance to break the game open when Cheng struck out to end the inning.

Rodón finished with two unearned runs allowed on just one hit over five innings while walking four and striking out six.

Just four days earlier, the Red Sox had sunk to a season-worst 14 games under .500 after dropping two of three to the Rockies. 

Four wins later, they’ve swept the Yankees, won four straight for the first time this season, and suddenly have life heading into the final homestand before the All-Star break.

Boston welcomes the Washington Nationals on Monday night to begin a three-game series with the first pitch at 7:10 p.m.