Sonny Gray caps brilliant regular season as Red Sox blank Guardians

The Red Sox piled up 12 hits on Wednesday night, but runs were much harder to come by. Fortunately for Boston, Sonny Gray and the bullpen made one run stand up.

Gray capped a terrific regular season with six scoreless innings, Andruw Monasterio snapped a lengthy hitless drought with the game’s only RBI, and Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in his return as the Red Sox blanked the Guardians, 1-0, at Fenway Park.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Boston (85-73), which improved to 10-10 in September after dropping eight of its previous 12 games.

Ceddanne Rafaela’s return from the injured list lasted just two innings before another leg issue forced him from the game.

Rafaela, who had missed 17 games with a right quad strain, was busy immediately. He recorded all three outs in center field behind Gray in the first inning before leading off the bottom of the second with a single.

While running down the first-base line, Rafaela appeared uncomfortable. He remained in the game for the rest of the inning but did not return to center for the third. The Red Sox announced he left because of right hamstring tightness.

Given his recent leg problems and the proximity of the postseason, the decision could prove to be precautionary. Still, with only four games remaining before the playoffs, any setback involving Boston’s center fielder is concerning.

Rafaela will undergo an MRI on Thursday to see what’s going on with his hamstring. 

“I think it’s more frustrating (than disappointing),” Chad Tracy said of the Rafaela situation. “You want to see everybody get to that finish line healthy.

“So more just when you see it, you’re concerned, you know? So (we) don’t know where we’re at with it yet. Hopefully, it’s not a huge deal, but still, yeah, makes your heart jump a little bit, and we’ll see where he’s at.”

Before being removed from the game, Rafaela recorded all three outs in the top of the first inning, including a diving catch on Steven Kwan’s leadoff line drive.

Chapman took the mound for the first time since Sept. 13 after missing the previous 10 days with lat tightness and showed no signs of rust.

The Sox’ All-Star closer struck out all three batters he faced in a perfect ninth inning, needing just 12 pitches to finish Boston’s 17th shutout of the season. His fastball averaged 96.4 mph, and he utilized his full mix to put Cleveland away.

His return completed a dominant night for a pitching staff that received another terrific performance from Gray.

The 36-year-old allowed four hits, all singles, and one walk over six scoreless innings while striking out three. He needed only 77 pitches, but with the postseason looming, Tracy decided there was little reason to ask for more.

“Just a really good pitcher,” Tracy said of his starter. “The level of consistency for him from start to finish has been very fun to watch, and impressive.”

Gray finishes his regular season 18-5 with a 2.72 ERA over 169 innings and 29 starts. Wednesday marked his sixth start of at least six shutout innings, matching his career high set in 2015 and 2025.

At 36, Gray also became just the third pitcher in Red Sox history to win at least 18 games in a season at that age or older, joining Cy Young, who accomplished the feat five times, and Curt Schilling, who won 21 games in 2004.

When Boston acquired him from St. Louis in November, questions remained about whether Gray could still perform like a No. 2 starter behind Garrett Crochet at this stage of his career. Instead, with Crochet sidelined for most of the season, Gray pitched like a No. 1 and put himself in position to receive Cy Young votes.

Gray’s abbreviated outing also gave Tracy an opportunity to line up his preferred late-inning relievers.

Tyron Guerrero struck out three in a scoreless seventh before Garrett Whitlock worked around two baserunners in the eighth. 

“That was great,” Tracy said. “To be able to score a run prior to that section of relievers coming in was fantastic.”

Guardians hitters struck out nine times, and no baserunner advanced past second base.