Royals in giving mood as slide continues with loss to Red Sox
In a classic “something’s gotta give” match between a Royals team limping into Boston having lost six straight and 9 of 10 and a Boston Red Sox club having lost eight straight, the Royals did a lot of giving.
The Royals gave via the home run. They gave via the error. They gave via the wild pitch. In total they gave seven runs, including two unearned, and it was enough to snap the Red Sox losing slide.
Meanwhile, the Royals still haven’t won a game on their road trip and have now lost seven in a row after a 7-5 defeat in front of an announced 33,636 in the first game of a three-game set at Fenway Park on Monday night.
In his best start since being re-acquired from the Chicago Cubs, Royals starting pitcher Mike Montgomery allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits and one walk.
He also showed a lot of swing-and-miss stuff against a potent lineup. He struck out seven batters in five innings, his most strikeouts in an outing since he struck out eight at Arizona on Sept. 18, 2018.
“That was probably the best stuff I’ve had all year,” Montgomery said. “You’re always looking for results, but for me personally it’s definitely something to build off of. I made a lot of good quality pitches. I’d like the mistake back with the two-run homer.”
Royals infielder Cheslor Cuthbert hit his seventh home run of the season, while rookie catcher Meibrys Viloria, who got called up from Double A after the club traded Martin Maldonado to the Chicago Cubs, hit his first major-league home run.
Bubba Starling also homered, while Whit Merrifield and Hunter Dozier had two hits apiece. Merrifield snapped an 0-for-10 streak with his fifth inning single.
The Red Sox (60-55) scored three of their runs via the home run, including a two-run blast by Sam Travis in a three-run third inning. Montgomery was kicking himself post-game for opting to throw a two-seam fastball and leaving it over the middle of the plate instead of throwing his four-seamer and getting it up and in as he intended.
Rafael Devers, who entered the day leading the American League in hits (144) over Merrifield (141), hit a curveball off Montgomery for solo homer on a fly ball to the opposite field that carried into the seats above the green monster in the fifth.
“It’s a pop-up,” Montgomery said. “It’s a combination of this park and the baseball now a days. You’ve just got to accept it. You’re pissed at the time because you think it’s an out, but that’s just the game we have now. You’ve got to move on and understand those things are going to happen.”
Kevin McCarthy pitched a scoreless sixth inning to keep the game within reach, and Viloria’s first home run came in the top of the seventh to make it 4-2.
“I’m really happy that I hit my first home run and where I hit it, a stadium with this much history,” Viloria said. “At the same time, I’m not happy that we lost this ballgame.”
Royals relief pitchers Timmy Hill and Scott Barlow combined to give up three runs in the seventh inning as the Red Sox stretched their lead from 4-2 to 7-2.
Hill gave up a single and a walk to start the inning before getting Devers to fly out. Barlow allowed a run to score on a wild pitch, walked a batter and allowed two more runs (one charged to Hill) on an Andrew Benintendi double.
“We kept battling back, battling back, battling back,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Mac came in the sixth and did a great job of holding the fort. I’m thinking if we can hold it, we’re in pretty good shape. We just couldn’t. We ended up giving up the three, which was a back-breaker right there.”
Starling’s second major-league home run, a three-run shot over the monster off Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes, pulled the Royals (40-74) within two runs going into the ninth.
The Royals couldn’t push a run across in the ninth.
This story was originally published August 5, 2019 at 9:22 PM.
