Sonny Gray turns in seven scoreless as Red Sox blank Orioles, 5-0

The Red Sox didn’t have anything close to their regular lineup on the field Saturday night. It didn’t stop them from finding enough offense to make Sonny Gray’s best start in weeks stand up.

Boston’s backups delivered five two-out runs while Gray tossed seven scoreless innings in a 5-0 win over the Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, putting the Red Sox in position to complete a four-game sweep Sunday.

The Red Sox (78-65) were without Ceddanne Rafaela, who remains sidelined with a tight right quad, while Adley Rutschman received a maintenance day and Caleb Durbin was given an overdue day off. Willson Contreras remains on the injured list with a hamstring injury.

On a night when the Red Sox needed someone to step forward, the backups did the job.

That was especially important for an offense that entered Saturday struggling to deliver in key situations. The Red Sox were just 22-for-107 (.206) with runners in scoring position over their previous 13 games.

For five innings, those struggles continued.

Boston finally broke through with two outs in the sixth, and Jarren Duran helped get the rally going on his 30th birthday.

Duran worked a six-pitch walk to load the bases, a notable plate appearance for an outfielder who had walked just once in his previous 67 plate appearances dating back to Aug. 15. Duran has also been mired in an offensive funk, going 5-for-39 over an 11-game stretch.

Starting in center field for Rafaela, Eli White lined a two-run single to put Boston ahead, 2-0. Connor Wong, giving Rutschman the night off behind the plate, followed with another two-out single to bring home Duran and extend the lead to three.

Trevor Story singled in the seventh before Isiah Kiner-Falefa delivered a two-run double that pushed Boston’s lead to 5-0.

Story continues to make his ugly rehab assignment at Triple-A Worcester look increasingly irrelevant. He batted just .171 with 11 strikeouts in 10 games for the WooSox, prompting questions about how much he could contribute upon returning.

The veteran shortstop is 11-for-25 with four multi-hit games since returning from the 60-day injured list Aug. 30. He singled in both of Boston’s run-scoring rallies Saturday.