Red Sox VS Royals 9–5, led by 18 hits and a great start by James Paxton.
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Red Sox vs Royals
Masataka Yoshida set his career best with four of Boston’s 18 hits, James Paxton pitched six strong innings, and the Red Sox defeated the Kansas City Royals 9-5 on Monday night.
With four straight victories, Boston now sits one and a half games behind the Royals for the last American League wild card berth.
Paxton (9-3) recorded his first victory since being traded by the Dodgers to the Red Sox, allowing two runs on five hits.
In 5 2/3 innings, Brady Singer (8-7) gave up four runs on ten hits. It seems like he gave up a hit every inning.
In the second, David Hamilton drove in the first run for Boston with a double down the right field line. Jarren Duran used a slow roller to add an RBI.
In the third inning, the Royals scored. Paxton gave Kyle Isbel a walk with one out, and he moved to second on a groundout. Isbel was scored by Bobby Witt Jr. with a single to right.
In the fourth, Freddy Fermin tapped one off the end of the bat for an RBI single, allowing Michael Massey to score after he tripled off the top of the wall in right center.
In the sixth, Boston took the lead once more. Duran scored two runs on a line liner down the left field line that reliever Angel Zerpa let up.
Before getting an out in the seventh, the Red Sox scored four more runs off Zerpa, two of which came from a pinch-hit home run by Romy Gonzalez.
Off Cooper Criswell, the Royals scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
ROOM FOR TRAINER
Red Sox: OF Tyler O’Neill was not in the starting lineup after missing Boston’s previous two games due to sickness. O’Neill, according to manager Alex Cora, was “feeling better, but not great.” Available still, but not at this time.
Next up
Tuesday night is the second game of a three-game series between the Red Sox and Royals. RHP Brayan Bello (10-5, 5.13 ERA) of Boston will take the mound against RHP Seth Lugo (13-5, 2.57 ERA).
Sox win first game of important series thanks to Duran’s two-run double.
In the most significant series to date, Boston’s most dynamic player delivered.
Jarren Duran became Boston’s spark plug once more in the sixth inning, with two out and two on in a tie game. The Red Sox never looked back after the 27-year-old All-Star hit a game-winning, two-run double down the left-field line, his AL-leading 35th two-bagger.
At Kauffman Stadium on Monday, Duran drove in a game-high three runs to lead Boston to a 9-5 victory over the Royals. The victory put the Red Sox six games behind the Orioles and Yankees in the AL East and just 1 1/2 games behind Kansas City for the third and final AL Wild Card slot.
However, Duran’s hit was the game-changing blow for one of the most explosive offenses in baseball following the All-Star break. In the seventh inning, the Red Sox scored four more runs, led by four consecutive hits to start the frame. Masataka Yoshida got four hits, Connor Wong drove in two runs, and Romy Gonzalez completed Boston’s 18-hit explosion with a 452-foot pinch-hit home slam.
With two games remaining in the series, the Red Sox need just one win to secure the postseason tiebreaker against the Royals, who they are now 3-1 against this season.
Boston performed well on defense as well. The Red Sox started the game with an MLB-high 84 errors, but they performed a clinic. In the fifth, Ceddanne Rafaela made one of the finest catches of the season, stealing extra bases from Maikel Garcia on a drive to center field that traveled 409 feet at 101.5 mph. To keep a runner off the bases for Bobby Witt Jr., Rafaela leaped, spun his body in the air, reached out, and caught the line drive before falling into the wall.
Hunter Renfroe attempted a 391-foot bomb to the left-field wall from the warning track, but Duran intervened defensively as well. With Witt on the basepaths at the conclusion of the third inning, Dominic Smith got in on the action as well, diving to the ground at first to block a single from Vinnie Pasquantino.
With four strikeouts in six innings of two-run ball, James Paxton also held it down on the mound. This was his first strong start since June 17 against the Rockies. Despite the bullpen giving up three runs in the last three frames, Duran and company led Boston to an important victory.
