Final: Red Sox 7, Royals 5

Six Red Sox relievers combined to go 7.2 innings Thursday afternoon, limiting the Kansas City Royals to three runs, as the Sox secured a sweep of their three-game series with a 7-5 victory.

Starter Ryan Weber lasted only four outs, but the bullpen took up the slack.

The Sox fell behind 2-0 early, but responded with four in the third and three more in the seventh, and once more, it was a balanced attack with three different players -- Mookie Betts, Christian Vazquez and Rafael Devers -- contributing two runs each.

The victory was the fourth straight overall, giving them a 4-2 mark on the road trip.

WHO: Red Sox at Kansas City Royals

WHEN: 1:15 p.m.
WHERE: Kauffman Stadium
SERIES TO DATE: Red Sox 2-0
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Ryan Weber (1-1, 4.50) vs. LHP Danny Duffy (3-2, 4.05)
TV/RADIO: NESN/WEEI 93.7 FM

IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:

3:44   Sox catch a break from the Royals outfield, with a line drive dropping between center fielder Billy Hamilton and right fielder Whit Merrifield, giving Christian Vazquez a gift triple, scoring two

3:31   Red Sox bullpen living dangerously here, but Ryan Brasier gets a huge strikeout of Merrifield with two runners in scoring position. So far, Red Sox relievers have yielded just one run over 4.2 innings.

2:47   Impressive work by Marcus Walden, who inherited a one-out, bases-loaded jam from Brewer and gets a flyout and strikeout to strand three runners.

2:22  Terrific play by Bogaerts, who was shifted over to the right of second but came back in front of the second base bag, gloved the chopper and then made a strong throw across his body to nip Ryan O'Hearn at first.

2:11   More mashing on the part of Rafael Devers, who lines a sharp single to CF, scoring two. That's 37 RBI over the last 37 games. That's all for Duffy.

2:02 Red Sox get it all back with one swing as Mookie Betts continues to have Duffy's number. That's his fifth homer in 12 career at-bats against him.

1:57   Nice work by Colten Brewer, who fans Whit Merrifield and gets Aldaberto Mondesi on a flyout to strand two runners in scoring position and keep the game within the reach.

1:52   Short outing for Weber. He allowed four straight hits and while two of them weren't hard hit at all, he's not fooling anybody this afternoon. Very, very little margin for error.

1:44  Ryan Weber leaves a sinker up over the middle of the plate and Cheslor Cuthbert hammers it out to straightaway center. Without dominant stuff, Weber has to stay out of the middle of the plate. That pitch couldn't have been more center-cut.

1:40 Hard comebacker off the knee of Danny Duffy, who walks off under his own power after the third out. But the Royals have action in the bullpen, suggesting that Duffy isn't likely to return.

 

LINEUPS



RED SOX

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

ROYALS

Merrifield RF
Mondesi SS
Gordon LF
Soler DH
O'Hearn  1B
Cuthbert 3B
Lopez 2B
Gallagher C
Hamilton CF

WHAT'S UP: The Red Sox carry a three-game win streak into this afternoon...With a win, they can give themselves a winning road trip....The Sox have scored exactly eight runs in each of their last three games....Over the last 33 games, they lead MLB in average runs per game (6.39)...The Sox have 58 homers in their last 32 games, third most in either league in that span...Boston has won it16s last five games at Kauffman Stadium and has scored a minimum of seven runs per contest in those games, outscoring the Royals 48-16....Rafael Devers had three RBI in Wednesday's win, or as many RBI as he collected in the team's first 24 games...Since then Devers has averaged nearly an RBI per game (35 in his last 36 games)….In his last 15 games, Jackie Bradley Jr. has hit .306 with 10 extra-base hits and a 1.077 OPS...Brock Holt has hit safely in every one of the seven games he's placed since he came off the IL...Xander Bogaerts leads the Red Sox in the following categories: doubles (18) and runs (49)….He's also tied for second in homers (12), extra-base hits (30), RBI (40) and walks (31) and third in OBP (.379) and OPS (.914)….Andrew Benintendi has a four-game hitting streak and had his fourth three-hit game of the season Wednesday night....He has multiple hits in three of the last six games...Mookie Betts is just 2-for-20 on the road trip....Michael Chavis is just 3-for-19 on the current road trip....Ryan Weber is making his third start of the season for the Red Sox and 11th of his major league career...This is his first appearance against the Royals....No member of the Royals has ever faced Weber...Betts is 6-for-10 against Danny Duffy in his career while Bradley is 3-for-10.