Welcome back to first place Boston Red Sox fans. The Sox got a big lift from Martin Perez (5-4, 4.32 ERA) when he threw 5 innings of 1 run ball to keep the Kansas City Royals down. The Boston bats woke up to pound Kansas City pitching for 7 runs including home runs from JD Martinez and Bobby Dalbec. The bullpen stepped up to toss 4 scoreless innings to nail down the win. With a loss by the Tampa Bay Rays to the Seattle Mariners, the Sox jumped back into first place with a 7-1 win over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
The Sox struck first against Royals starter Brad Keller in the top of the first inning as Danny Santana grounded out to short to start. Alex Verdugo hit a double to center and moved to third in the grounder to short by JD Martinez. Xander Bogaerts ripped a base hit to center to score Verdugo but Rafael Devers grounded out to second to end the inning with the Sox ahead 1-0.
Perez ran into trouble immediately in the bottom of the first inning as Whit Merrifield walked to start. Merrifield stole second but Carlos Santana struck out swinging. Merrifield swiped third but was thrown out at home on a grounder to short by Salvador Perez. Jorge Soler grounded into a force to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the second as Hunter Renfroe grounded out to second to start. Christian Vazquez struck out swinging. Kike Hernandez walked and Bobby Dalbec lashed a base hit to right, but Santana grounded out to second to end the inning. Hunter Dozier grounded out to second to start the bottom of the second before Kelvin Gutierrez grounded out to short. Hanser Alberto walked but Michael A Taylor struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the third as Verdugo flied out to left to start. Martinez lined out to right and Bogaerts lined out to third to end the inning. The Royals struck back in the bottom of the third as Nicky Lopez effortlessly singled to right and made it to third on a base hit to right by Merrifield. Merrifield took second on the throw and Lopez scored on the ground out by Santana to tie the game. Merrifield swiped third but was thrown out at home on a grounder to the mound by Salvador. Soler struck out swinging to end the inning with the game tied 1-1.
Keller dominated the top of the fourth as Devers struck out swinging to start. Renfroe grounded out to short and Vazquez took strike three to end the inning. Perez matched Keller in the bottom of the fourth as Dozier flied out to center to start. Gutierrez lined out to left and Alberto grounded out to third to end the inning.
The Sox struck back in the top of the fifth as Hernandez walked to start. Dalbec tripled to left to score Hernandez and Bobby scored on the ground out by Santana to increase the lead. Verdugo walked and Martinez bashed his 14th home run of the season and 100th with the Red Sox to add to the lead. Bogaerts flied out to right and Devers struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox ahead 5-1.
Taylor grounded out to short to sta....WAIT! The Royals challenged the call and Taylor was ruled safe at first. Taylor moved to second on the grounder to the mound by Lopez. Merrifield popped up to third and Santana grounded out to third to end the inning. That was it for Perez who lasted just 5 innings but held the Royals to just 1 run.
Anthony Swarzak came in to pitch the top of the sixth and Renfroe flied out to right to start. Vazquez lined out to first and Hernandez lined out to left to end the inning. Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock came in to pitch the bottom of the sixth and Perez hit a ground rule double to right to start. Soler struck out swinging, Dozier grounded out to short and Gutierrez lined out to center to end the inning.
Jackson Kowar came in to pitch the top of the seventh and Dalbec was plunked to start. Santana and Verdugo both flied out to center before two wild pitches moved Dalbec to third. Martinez flied out to right to end the inning. The Lock returned for the bottom of the seventh and Alberto grounded out to short to start. Taylor grounded out to first but Lopez singled to center. Merrifield struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the eighth as Bogaerts struck out swinging to start. Devers grounded back to the mound and Renfroe grounded out to short to end the inning. Hiro Sawamura came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Santana grounded out to second to start. Perez struck out swinging and Soler grounded out to short to end the inning.
The Sox struck again in the top of the ninth as Vazquez flied out to center to start. Hernandez singled to left and Dalbec launched his ninth home run of the year to add to the lead. Santana singled to center but Verdugo banged into a double play to end the inning with the Sox ahead 7-1.
Brandon Workman came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth and Dozier struck out swinging to start but Gutierrez beat out a roller to third. Alberto singled to left but Taylor lined out to left. Lopez flied out to left to end the game. The Sox had won it 7-1.
Hero of the Night is Bobby Dalbec. He tripled home the go-ahead run and added a 2 run home run later.
The Good:
Kike Hernandez was 1 for 2 with 2 walks and 2 runs scored.
Martin Perez tossed 5 innings of 1 run ball to earn the win. He allowed just 3 hits and 2 walks.
Garrett Whitlock tossed 2 scoreless innings.
Hiro Sawamura pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
Brandon Workman pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Rafael Devers was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Hunter Renfroe was 0 for 4.
Christian Vazquez was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
The Ugly:
Danny Santana was just 1 for 5 but drove in a run.
Alex Verdugo was just 1 for 4 but walked and scored two runs.
JD Martinez was just 1 for 4 but the one hit was a 2 run homer.
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4 with an rbi.
Final Thoughts:
That was not a very good win but it was badly needed since not only the Rays lost but the New York Yankees beat the Oakland A's. The Sox are in a three way dance for the AL East title and it'll take a miracle to hold off the Rays pitching and Yankees offense. Even though the Sox won, Alex Cora AGAIN pulled a starter too early when Perez was done after 79 pitches. Why don't any of these guys say anything? Did Cora not see what happened to Blake Snell in the World Series? Granted this is only the regular season but what if the Sox are down in a playoff series and Perez is at 79 pitches but one run allowed through 5, is he gonna yank him then too? The bullpen did the job tonight but they can't keep doing this every single game. It'll be a miracle of Sawamura, Whitlock, Matt Barnes and Adam Ottavino are still effective come September. Still, there were some positives as Dalbec seems to be coming out of his season long funk and the team has gelled into one that's never truly out of a game. The Sox are 26-10 when they score first and 17-18 when they don't. The Sox still need to figure out a position player rotation because they can't possibly go down the stretch with everybody on the bench hitting under or near .200. Still all this squawking means the team has a chance this year and that's a major improvement over last year. The win improved the Sox to 43-28, 1/2 game ahead of the Rays for first place in the AL East. Tomorrow the Sox look to make it two in a row against the Royals when Nathan Eovaldi (7-3, 3.76 ERA) takes on Mike Minor of Kansas City. The game begins at 2:10 PM Eastern time at Kauffman Stadium.
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