Kansas City Royals get off to a fast start but let Red Sox rally in a 6-5 loss
The combination of a lineup shuffle, a fresh face, a struggling opposing starter and a bandbox of a ballpark gave the Kansas City Royals’ offense a needed boost. However, none of those things could prevent their sixth consecutive loss.
The Royals scored as many runs in the first two innings on Monday night as they had in the previous three-game series in Texas. They also hit three home runs, their most since June 3, but they did all their scoring in those early innings.
The Royals did not score after the second inning and they coughed up a four-run lead in a 6-5 loss to the Boston Red Sox in the opening game of a four-game set in front of an announced 22,766 at Fenway Park on Monday night.
“I would’ve liked to have added on,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “But five on the board, not that we’re going to be content with that and shut down the offense, but they did some special things to get us in a place to have enough runs to win.
“We knew, you let them off the hook and they’ve got a good bullpen. They’re going to be able to make some things happen on the backside. We tried to keep the pressure on. He made good pitches when he had to.”
The Red Sox now have 26 come-from-behind wins this season, the most in the majors.
Red Sox starting pitcher Garrett Richards entered the night having given up 17 earned runs and a .347 opponent’s batting average in his last five starts (22 innings).
Monday night, he allowed five runs and 11 hits, including three home runs, in 5 2/3 innings.
Whit Merrifield, Carlos Santana and Michael A. Taylor all hit home runs for the Royals (33-44). Merrifield went 3 for 5 with two runs scored, while Jorge Soler collected a pair of hits and scored a run while batting in the No. 2 spot in the order.
Royals third baseman Emmanuel Rivera made his major-league debut and smacked two hits in his first game, including a single on the first pitch he faced.
Royals left-hander Danny Duffy allowed four runs and five hits, including three home runs, and one walk in 3 1/3 innings. All four runs came on home runs.
“My expectations far surpassed my performance today,” Duffy said. “My team spotted my five runs today, and I gave four of them right back. Strength-wise, I felt good. I’m not too pleased with the end result.”
Duffy threw 41 pitches in his previous start on Wednesday, and he made a one-inning relief appearance on Friday.
Monday night, Duffy threw 62 pitches in his second start since coming off the injured list with a left forearm flexor strain. He’d thrown 49 pitches through three innings.
“He was at 49 pitches, the ball was coming out good,” Matheny said of Duffy coming back out for the fourth inning. “He’s the best guy we’ve got, and he’s the guy we want on the mound.”
The Royals grabbed an early lead with three consecutive hits to start the game. Merrifield and Soler singled to set the table for Santana’s 13th homer of the season, a three-run home run smashed to right-center field.
Red Sox leadoff hitter Enrique Hernandez got one run back with a solo homer off of Duffy to start the bottom of the first, but the Royals tacked on two more runs in the second on homers by Taylor and Merrifield.
Merrifield’s seventh homer of the season made it a 5-1 Royals advantage.
Red Sox slugger Bobby Dalbec hit the fifth home run of the game when he took a 2-1 pitch from Duffy over the green monster with two outs in the second inning.
The Red Sox (48-31) pulled within a run in the fourth, 5-4. Xander Bogaerts doubled to right field, and Hunter Renfroe hit a two-run homer. Duffy came out one batter later after he struck out Christian Vazquez.
“I’ve ‘built up’ during the season plenty of times,” Duffy said. “I felt as strong in the fourth as I did in the first. I just didn’t execute a changeup to Hunter Renfroe, and we paid for it. I felt like every mistake I made tonight, we paid for it. That’s how it’s going to be sometimes.”
Duffy reiterated that he felt really good, strong and felt like the ball was coming out “electric” in the last inning.
“I fell behind to a really good hitter in Xander Bogaerts, and he made me pay for it,” Duffy said. “We worked the count to 3-2, found a way back in it. And, once again, I left a fastball up letter-high out over. He doubled it down the line. I think we went to 1-1 on Renfroe and hung a changeup where you never want to throw a changeup.”
Royals reliever Kyle Zimmer gave up the third run off the inning as the Red Sox tied the score. Dalbec singled, advanced on a groundout, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a single that squeaked through the infield past Nicky Lopez’s sliding attempt at shortstop.
Renfroe hit his second homer of the game, a 434-foot blast to left field, off reliever Josh Staumont in the sixth inning. The Red Sox hadn’t led until Renfroe’s smash cleared the green monster in left field.
This story was originally published June 28, 2021 at 9:30 PM.
