willson contreras

Angels drop sixth straight to Jarren Duran and Red Sox

Jarren Duran and Willson Contreras homered, and five Boston pitchers combined to give up two runs over 6⅓ innings in relief of injured starter Ranger Suarez to lead the Red Sox to a 7-5 win over the Angels on Sunday night.

Boston’s eighth victory in 10 games completed a three-game sweep of the Angels, who have lost six straight and 12 of 19 since June 14.

Suarez, named to the American League All-Star team Saturday, exited with two outs in the third because of left adductor tightness, an injury he sustained when he jumped for Jo Adell’s chopper over the mound.

The left-hander was followed by Greg Weissert (1-2), Tyron Guerrero and Garrett Whitlock, who combined for 4⅓ hitless innings. Justin Slaten gave up a run in the eighth, and Aroldis Chapman gave up a solo homer to Zach Neto in the ninth before earning his 18th save.

The Angels scored twice in the first on Jorge Soler’s grounder and Adell’s RBI single. Boston tied it 2-2 in the second on Duran’s 13th homer, a two-run shot to right-center off starter Ryan Johnson (1-4).

Neto’s RBI double gave the Angels a 3-2 lead in the bottom half, but the Red Sox took advantage of Neto’s major league-leading 14th error to score three unearned runs in the third.

Tsung-Che Cheng led off with a bunt single. Anthony Seigler and Ceddanne Rafaela flied out, and Wilyer Abreu hit a routine grounder to shortstop that should have ended the inning.

Neto bobbled the ball for an error, though, and Contreras crushed Johnson’s next pitch for his 20th homer, a 446-foot shot to left-center that left his bat at 112 mph and gave Boston a 5-3 lead.

The Red Sox tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh on Abreu’s sacrifice fly and Masataka Yoshida’s RBI single for a 7-3 advantage.

The Angels scored in the eighth on Donovan Walton’s double and Adell’s RBI single.

Up next for the Angels: RHP Jose Soriano opposes Rangers RHP Jacob deGrom (7-5, 3.48 ERA) on Tuesday night in Texas.

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Sonny Gray, Red Sox send Angels to their fifth consecutive loss

Willson Contreras and Romy Gonzalez homered to back the superb pitching of Sonny Gray, who gave up one run and four hits in six innings of the Boston Red Sox’s 8-1 win over the Angels on Saturday night at Angel Stadium.

Wilyer Abreu added a two-run double, and relievers Jovani Morán, Greg Weissert and Alec Gamboa combined for three hitless innings for the Red Sox (39-48), who have won seven of nine games. The Angels (36-54) have lost five straight and 11 of 17 since June 17.

Gray (10-1) induced two of Boston’s three double-play grounders, struck out seven and walked one. The 36-year-old right-hander has six straight quality starts since May 30, a stretch in which he’s gone 5-0 with a 1.97 ERA.

Though he leads the American League in wins and ranks second with a 2.61 ERA, Gray was not named to the AL All-Star team Saturday.

Angels starter Sam Aldegheri (3-4) walked two ahead of Contreras’ 19th homer, a 421-foot blast to left-center that gave Boston a 3-0 lead in the first.

Josh Lowe’s one-out homer pulled the Angels to within 3-1 in the second. Jo Adell walked, and Wade Meckler singled, but Gray struck out Donovan Walton and Tyler Heineman to escape the jam.

Aldegheri did not give up a hit in the second, third and fourth, but with his pitch count at 88, he was pulled in favor of left-hander Samy Natera Jr., who gave up one run in his first nine big-league games.

Anthony Seigler led off the fifth with a double, Ceddanne Rafaela walked, and Abreu slammed a two-run double off the right-field wall for a 5-1 lead.

Gonzalez, robbed of a potential first-inning homer when Adell made a leaping catch of his drive above the wall in right, followed with a towering, 368-foot fly that cleared the short left-field wall for his first homer of the season and a 7-1 lead. Rafaela’s RBI single in the eighth made it 8-1.

Up next: Red Sox LHP Ranger Suarez (4-3, 2.94 ERA) will oppose Angels RHP Ryan Johnson (1-3, 7.40) in Sunday night’s series finale.

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