Boston Red Sox at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball

Boston Red Sox

61-52, 34-23 Away

Final
6 - 5

Kansas City Royals

63-52, 36-24 Home

Dominic Smith scores go-ahead run on wild pitch, helps Red Sox beat Royals 6-5

Smith doubled to open the sixth and moved to third on a single to center field by Eric Sogard. After David Hamilton struck out looking, Smith charged home on a pitch by KC's Seth Lugo that bounced in front of the plate and got away from catcher Salvador Perez. Perez chased the ball to the backstop, wheeled and threw to Lugo, who appeared to tag a diving Smith for an apparent out.

The Red Sox challenged the call, which was overturned on review.

“Dom (Smith) wasn’t too sure,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “Mikey (Brenly, the Red Sox’s replay coordinator) right away said, ‘Challenge it. He got in.’”

Smith called his diving toward the plate a “freestyle” when asked what stroke he used.

“I tried to make a move," Smith said. "I wasn’t sure when (Royals pitcher Seth Lugo) tagged me, but when I saw (manager Alex Cora) go for the challenge, I felt good about it.

“I’ve been seeing a lot of our speedy guys (use the swim move) all year. My slide is a little bit slower than other people’s, so I might have a little more time to make a move.”

Later in the inning, with the bases loaded and two out Yoshida singled through the right side, driving in two more runs.

The Red Sox, who have won the first two games of the three-game set, trail the Royals by a half-game for the third American League wild-card spot.

Brennan Bernadino (4-3) worked a third of an inning and earned the win in relief. Kenley Jansen picked up his 21st save, striking out Bobby Witt Jr., the MLB leader in hits and batting average, to end it.

“That’s the best I’ve seen the big boy, especially in that last at bat,” Cora said of Jansen. “It was cutter, sinker, cutter. The velocity, the movement, to have him rested was very important.”

Lugo (13-6) allowed six runs, four earned, on six hits in 5 1/3 innings in the loss.

“Another competitive outing,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “His command was a little bit off, I think. He was maybe trying to be a little too fine. We were looking up there in the sixth and we were right in the game.”

Lugo said overturning the call was the right call.

“I could tell that I didn’t get his arm and his hand got the plate,” Lugo said. “I was hoping they didn’t have a good enough video to show that.”

Boston held a 6-3 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth inning when the Royals' MJ Melendez lined a two-run double to the wall, scoring Vinnie Pasquantino and Perez and cutting the deficit to a run.

Kansas City's Bobby Witt Jr. lined a one-out double in the first before Pasquantino pulled one through the right side of the infield for an RBI single.

The Red Sox answered with a pair of unearned runs in the second. Connor Wong singled. Smith hit a grounder to second, but Michael Massey failed to field it. With one out, David Hamilton bounced one over the wall, scoring Wong. Smith scored on a groundout by Ceddanne Rafaela.

Masataka Yoshida homered with one out in the third to extend the Boston lead to 3-1.

The Royals used three straight two-out hits to tie the game in the fifth. Massey launched a 434-foot home run to right center. Witt followed with a bloop single and scored on a double by Pasquantino.

TRAINING ROOM:

Red Sox: Boston manager Alex Cora said RHP Chris Martin played catch Monday and felt good Tuesday, so it's likely he'll be activated from the injured list before Wednesday's game. He has been on the IL since July 5 (retroactive to July 4) with right elbow inflammation. ... OF Tyler O'Neill, who has been out of the lineup with an illness since Aug. 3, feels better and is also likely to return to the lineup Wednesday.

The Red Sox and Royals will conclude their three-game series Wednesday night. Boston will start RHP Brayan Bello (7-8, 3.81 ERA) against KC's LHP Cole Ragans (8-7, 3.35 ERA).

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

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

Matchup Prediction

Royals: 64.4%

Red Sox: 35.6%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Witt Jr. struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Massey flied out to left.
	9th Inning	DeJong struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	DeJong hit for Hampson
	9th Inning	Devers lined out to right.
	9th Inning	Yoshida flied out to left.

Statistics

BOS		KC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	0
10	Ground Balls	9
7	Strikeouts	11
5	Runs Batted In	5
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
7	Hits	8
0	Stolen Bases	1
5	Walks	3
0	Catcher Interference	0
6	Runs	5
1	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
34	At Bats	35
1	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
19	Runners Left On Base	11
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	0
2	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	4
17	Fly Balls	15
1	Caught Stealing	0
154	Pitches	148
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	2
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	1
12	Total Bases	15
40	Plate Appearances	38
162.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
3	Extra Base Hits	5
3.6	Runs Created	4.7
.206	Batting Average	.229
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.353	Slugging Percentage	.429
.265	Secondary Average	.314
.325	On Base Percentage	.289
.678	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.718
0.6	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.6
3.4	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	4.7
36.0	Batter Rating	40.0
34.0	At Bats Per Home Run	35.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.85	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.89
.147	Isolated Power	.200
0.71	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.27
.125	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.079
.059	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.086
11.0	Runs Produced	10.0
0.8	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.5	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.3
81.8	MLB Rating	83.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0