ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Willson Contreras and Romy Gonzalez homered to back the superb pitching of Sonny Gray, who allowed one run and four hits in six innings of the Boston Red Sox’s 8-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.
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, who have won seven of nine games. The Angels have lost five straight and 11 of 17 since June 17.
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Boston Red Sox's Romy Gonzalez, center, is greeted by teammates after hitting a two-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Saturday, July 4, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)
Boston Red Sox's Romy Gonzalez hits a two-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Saturday, July 4, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)
Boston Red Sox's Wilyer Abreu, center, is greeted by teammates after scoring during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Saturday, July 4, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)
Boston Red Sox's Romy Gonzalez runs after hitting a two-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Saturday, July 4, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)
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 this season, 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 solo 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 allow 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.
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.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Boston Red Sox's Romy Gonzalez, center, is greeted by teammates after hitting a two-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Saturday, July 4, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)
Boston Red Sox's Romy Gonzalez hits a two-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Saturday, July 4, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)
Boston Red Sox's Wilyer Abreu, center, is greeted by teammates after scoring during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Saturday, July 4, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)
Boston Red Sox's Romy Gonzalez runs after hitting a two-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Saturday, July 4, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A performer at the funeral for Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for the death of U.S. President Donald Trump before a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people Sunday in the capital, Tehran.
The comment represents the first, direct call for Trump's death by an emcee at the funeral, which has seen posters and graffiti calling for the killing of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That's been a hard-line demand even as Tehran negotiates with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war that's disrupted global energy supplies.
Mohammad Rasouli, a poet, drew calls of “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Speaking to the crowd over loudspeakers at the funeral, Rasouli asked, referring to Trump: “Why is the most bastard man in the world still alive?”
The question drew cheers from the crowd, and again when Rasouli said that “the world is no longer a good place for” Trump.
Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old Shiite cleric, later led a prayer Sunday at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla for Khamenei and his late family members.
A far-larger crowd for the funeral than the day before attended the ceremony Sunday. Mourners dressed in black walked to the site, carrying banners and flags honoring Khamenei and also calling for Trump's killing as the American president gave a speech in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
“We’ve had tremendous success,” Trump said, speaking of the American military. “You look at Venezuela, you look at Iran. We wiped it out, wiped out their military.”
U.S. federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years. That stems from Trump ordering the 2020 killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who led the expeditionary Quds Force of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Iran repeatedly has denied plotting to kill Trump, though hard-line propaganda footage long has suggested Trump was in Tehran's crosshairs.
Trump meanwhile promised to destroy Iran's very civilization during the war among a variety of other threats.
The funeral for Khamenei, who ruled Iran for decades before he was killed at age 86 in a Feb. 28 airstrike in the opening moments of the Iran war, could provide a boost for the country’s theocracy and its new supreme leader, his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
That is important as Iran tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war and as concern lingers that Israel could attack again.
The funeral was delayed as the war raged, and talks are on hold until it is over.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
A man carries a child holding a red Shiite religious flag outside the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque during the funeral ceremonies for slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Mourners write messages on a wall, including one in English that reads "We will kill Trump," during the funeral ceremonies for slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Mourners walk through the grounds of the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque during the funeral ceremonies for slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
A mourner holds a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as he walks past a wall bearing messages, including one in English that reads "We will kill Trump," during the funeral ceremonies for Khamenei and members of his family at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Mourners gather beneath a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the funeral ceremonies for Khamenei and members of his family at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
