Boston Red Sox at Los Angeles Angels

Hours after being left off the initial American League All-Star Game roster, Sonny Gray pitched six strong innings to lead the Red Sox to an 8-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night. Gray allowed just four hits and one run -- a solo home run to Josh Lowe in the second inning -- while striking out seven and walking two. The performance further lowered his ERA to 2.61, though the veteran right-hander admitted postgame that finding his footing took a moment. "I didn't have an edge," Gray said of his first two innings. "I didn't have an edge and it took me a minute to find one. ... That was a fight. That was just one that you grind through and you try to figure out a way to get better as it goes on." Interim manager Chad Tracy noted that after pushing Gray hard in his previous outing, the early run cushion allowed him to pull the veteran after 70 pitches. “He was great. the early part of the game ... had to kind of labor through a little bit. ... Once he got past that \[second\