Final: Red Sox 8, Royals 0

Chris Sale tossed a complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits, as the Red Sox blanked the Kansas City Royals, 8-0, for their third straight victory.

Sale recorded 12 strikeouts and, for the second time this season, had an "immaculate inning'' -- notching three strikeouts in the eighth on just nine pitches.

Sale got all the support he needed in the first when the Sox scored twice. Andrew Benintendi and Brock Holt each had three hits while Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr both knocked in three.

WHO: Red Sox at Kansas City Royals
WHEN: 8:15 p.m.
WHERE: Kauffman Stadium
SERIES TO DATE: Red Sox 1-0
STARTING PITCHING: LHP Chris Sale (1-7, 4.35) vs. RHP Jakob Junis (4-5, 5.35)
TV/RADIO: NESN/WEEI 93.7 FM

IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:

10:37   For the seventh time in the last nine starts, Sale has reached double figures in strikeouts. And he records his last three on just nine pitches, recording an immaculate inning for the second time this season. The fact that he can be so dominant so late in the game is really something.

10:05  Sale has been toying with the Royals -- six shutout innings, three singles allowed, eight stirkeouts and just 68 pitches.

9:43   Jackie Bradley Jr. goes down to flick a breaking ball the other way, and left fielder Alex Gordon playing a shallow left, the ball gets over his head and clears the bases.

9:41  Michael Chavis is slumping big-time and while the big issue has been his inability to hit fastballs up in the zone, he's also now having difficulty hitting breaking pitches, which he had previous crushed in his first month. Could be a matter of him being caught in-between.

9:32  Devers smashes a double to right-center, too. Devers has two RBI already tonight and 15 RBI in his last 14 games.

9:29 Signs of life from Andrew Benintendi, who collects his third hit -- a double to right-center -- and may be showing signs of turning it around at the plate after being dropped out of the leadoff spot.

9:22  Fabulous play by Rafael Devers at third, who reaches up with his backhand to glove a high chopper by Aldaberto Mondesi, then makes a strong, accurate throw to first base to throw him out. Devers deserves a ton of credit for the work he's done on his defense of late -- it's been more than a month since he last made an error.

9:08 Another back pick by a Red Sox catcher. Christian Vazquez had one a little more than a week ago, and tonight, it's Sandy Leon, who catches Whit Merrifield too far off the bag. Ruled safe initially, he was out on a video challenge.

8:29 Run support has been an issue often for the Red Sox and Chris Sale this season -- they're averaging a little bit more than three runs per start -- but they get him two quick runs in the top of the first.

LINEUPS



RED SOX

Betts RF
Benintendi LF
Martinez DH
Devers 3B
Bogaerts SS
Holt 2B
Chavis 1B
Bradley CF
Leon C

ROYALS

Merrifield RF
Mondesi SS
Gordon LF
Soler DH
Cuthbert 1B
Gutierrez 3B
Lopez 2B
Maldonado C
Hamilton CF

 

WHAT'S UP: After dropping four in a row, the Red Sox have won their last two games....Overall, they're just 9-10 in their last 19 games and 4-6 in their last 10....The Sox have managed to score eight runs in their last two wins....Eduardo Nunez provided his first pinch-hit homer Tuesday night...The Red Sox lead the majors in pinch-hitting average (.467, 14-for-30), OBP (.579) and OPS (1.412)...They have three pinch-hit homers this season, tying them with the Texas Rangers for the most in the American League...Mitch Moreland and Christian Vazquez have  the others...Since returning from the Injured List, Brock Holt has hit safely in his last six games, going 8-for-20 (.400) with four RBI and five runs scored....The Sox have won their last four games at Kauffman Stadium, scoring 40 runs in the process while allowing 16....Overall, the Sox have won of the last seven in Kansas City....The Red Sox are the only team in baseball with three players who have scored 40 or more runs -- Xander Bogaerts has 48, Mookie Betts 46 and Rafael Devers 43...Among regular shortstops (30 or more games at the position), Bogaerts is first in doubles (18) and runs scored (48) while ranking second in homers (12), extra-base hits (30), OBP (.383) and OPS (.927)...He's the only A.L. players with at least 30 extra-base hits 40 RBI and 40 runs scored and is one of two players in the league with at least 30 extra-base hits and a .300 average or better. Minnesota's Jorge Polanco is the other...Andrew Benintendi has hit in three straight and has five RBI in his last seven games...After a week-long hot stretch, Jackie Bradley Jr. is hitless in his last seven at-bats...Sandy Leon is 3-for-5 on the current road trip...J.D. Martinez posted his fourth three-hit game Tuesday night....Chris Sale is making his 300th regular season start tonight and his 220th start...He's win each of his last three starts at Kauffman, striking out 10 batters or more in each one....He's had quality starts in each of his five starts there, going 3-0 with a 2.65 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 46-to-6....Sale ranks second in the majors with a 12.9-strikeouts-to-nine-inning ratio and has punched out 10 or more hitters in six of his last eight starts....Alex Gordon is 15-for-64 (.234) with 23 strikeouts against Sale while Whit Merrifield is 6-for-25 with seven strikeouts....The Sox have a limited number of at-bats against Jakob Junis, with Martinez going 2-for-7 and Devers 2-for-3....