Kansas City Royals at Boston Red Sox

· Major League Baseball

Kansas City Royals

52-43, 21-25 Away

Final
6 - 1

Boston Red Sox

51-43, 22-26 Home

Witt, Melendez both homer to help Royals beat Red Sox 6-1 for 4th straight win

Adam Frazier, Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez (with two) all added RBI for Kansas City, which opened the three-game series a game back of Boston for the AL’s final wild-card spot.

“Every win is huge, whether it's April or July,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “But when you're squarely right behind a team and you beat them, that's a good step forward for us.”

It was the 16th homer of the season for Witt, an All-Star who will be competing in Monday’s Home Run Derby. The ball, which landed in the center field portion of the seats atop the Green Monster, was claimed by a Royals' fan.

"I knew the wind was helping a little bit, luckily," Witt said. “I just try to put good swing on it.”

There was nothing happening by chance for Ragans (6-6). He struck out seven and allowed four hits to earn his first victory since June 24 at Miami.

“I thought overall I commanded it pretty well,” Ragans said. “I missed a few, but overall I thought it was pretty good.”

Ceddanne Rafaela had an RBI for the Red Sox.

Cooper Criswell (3-4) threw a career-high 104 pitches over six innings, yielding eight hits and five runs, but only two – including Witt’s home run – were earned.

In their last 27 games, the Red Sox are 1-8 against left-handed starting pitchers. That compares to 17-1 against right-handers. All-Stars Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran were a combined 1 for 8 on Friday.

“Obviously the production of Raffy and Jarren is lower. We've just got to find a way to do it,” manager Alex Cora said. “We've just got to be patient and keep working.”

The Royals opened the game with three consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs, and then took a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by Perez. But Criswell got Michael Massey on a groundout and Hunter Renfroe on a flyout to get out of the inning.

Criswell’s luck didn’t last.

In the second inning Kansas City took advantage of a fielding error by first baseman Romy Gonzalez, plus a walk and hit batter by Criswell to add three unearned runs and increase the lead to 4-0.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: Placed RHP Justin Slaten on the 15-day IL retroactive to July 9 with right elbow inflammation. The reliever is 5-2 with a 3.38 ERA in 31 games this season. LHP Cam Booser was called up from Triple-A Worcester to take the roster spot.

Royals: RHP Seth Lugo (11-3, 2.21 ERA) has the lowest ERA by a Royal over his first 19 starts with the franchise. He is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in three career appearances against Boston.

Red Sox: RHP Kutter Crawford (5-7, 3.24) is making his 19th start of the season. He’s lost both of his career starts against Kansas City, tallying an 8.64 ERA.

How can I watch Kansas City Royals vs. Boston Red Sox?

TV Channel: Royals at Red Sox 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on NESN.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Red Sox: 55.4%

Royals: 44.6%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Smith grounded out to first.
	9th Inning	Smith hit for González
	9th Inning	Wong grounded out to third.
	9th Inning	Devers grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Anderson relieved Stratton
	9th Inning	Pasquantino flied out to right.

Statistics

KC		BOS
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	0
14	Ground Balls	13
2	Strikeouts	10
6	Runs Batted In	1
1	Sacrifice Hit	0
10	Hits	5
0	Stolen Bases	0
2	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
6	Runs	1
0	Ground Into Double Play	1
2	Sacrifice Flies	0
33	At Bats	31
2	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
7	Runners Left On Base	15
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
1	Doubles	2
20	Fly Balls	8
0	Caught Stealing	0
139	Pitches	133
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	2
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	0
17	Total Bases	7
39	Plate Appearances	33
324.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
3	Extra Base Hits	2
6.3	Runs Created	0.8
.303	Batting Average	.161
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.515	Slugging Percentage	.226
.273	Secondary Average	.129
.342	On Base Percentage	.212
.857	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.438
0.7	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.6
6.5	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	0.8
42.0	Batter Rating	13.0
16.5	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.56	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.03
.212	Isolated Power	.065
1.00	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.20
.051	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.061
-.030	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.032
12.0	Runs Produced	2.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.6	Patience Ratio	0.3
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.2
93.3	MLB Rating	64.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0