WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras homered on back-to-back pitches in the eighth inning, Sonny Gray went seven innings for his 13th win of the season, and the Boston Red Sox rallied to beat the Athletics 5-4 on Thursday night.
Ceddanne Rafaela added two hits and two RBIs for the Red Sox, who have had to come from behind in eight of their past 12 victories.
Trailing 4-3 in the eighth, Boston tied it when Abreu hit his 16th home run on changeup from Luis Media (2-3) 422 feet. Contreras connected on the following pitch for his 23rd home run.
Lawrence Butler had two hits and scored two runs for the A’s. Jacob Wilson also had two hits and an RBI.
Gray (13-2), the A’s first-round draft pick in 2011, allowed four runs and seven hits. Coming off his worst outing of the season, the three-time All-Star had five strikeouts and two walks.
Greg Weissert retired three batters, and Aroldis Chapman worked around a one-out double in the ninth for his 26th save.
The Red Sox are 25-5 since June 25 to raise their record to 57-51. They have won 23 consecutive games when scoring four runs or more. The A’s led 3-0 before Boston tied it in the fifth against A’s starter Mason Barnett on Andruw Monasterio’s single and Rafaela’s two-out, two-run double.
Butler came through again in the sixth when he hit a leadoff double, took third on a flyout to center and scored on Carlos Cortes’ short sacrifice fly to left.
Barnett allowed three runs and four hits in five innings of his second start since being recalled from the minors on July 22.
Up next
Red Sox: LHP Ranger Suárez (4-3, 3.02 ERA) faces the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Friday. A’s: LHP Jeffrey Springs (3-10, 6.23) starts against the Tigers on Friday.
