In their biggest margin of victory of the season, the Red Sox pasted the Kansas City Royals, 15-1, setting a season-high for runs scored and tying a season-high in hits collected (17).
Danny Santana and Rafael Devers each had five RBI as the Red Sox won their seventh in a row and finished with a perfect homestand. Every Red Sox starter finished with at least one hit, with five collecting multiple hits.
Nathan Eovaldi turned in seven shutout innings and improved to 9-4 as the Red Sox stretched their lead in the American League East to 3.5 games.
WHO: Red Sox (50-31) vs. Kansas City Royals (33-46)
WHEN: 1:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: BOS 3-0
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: BOS 4-2
STARTING PITCHER: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (8-4, 3.67) vs. LHP Kris Bubek (2-3, 4.47)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI 93.7 FM
LINEUPS:
ROYALS
Merrifield 2B
Soler RF
Santana 1B
Perez DH
O'Hearn LF
Dozier 3B
Dyson CF
Rivero C
Lopez SS
RED SOX
Hernandez 2B
Verdugo CF
Martinez LF
Bogaerts DH
Devers 3B
Renfroe RF
Gonzalez SS
Santana 1B.
Wong C
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
T8: One of the best starts for Eovaldi -- in fact, one of the best starts for any Sox starter -- this season: seven innings, no runs, no walks, six strikeouts. He's now gotten through seven innings in each of his last two starts.
B6: Devers piles on with a three-run clout over the visitor's bullpen with two out. That's an even 20 homers and adds to his MLB-leading RBI total, 69.
B5 Two-run, bases loaded single by Rafael Devers off Ervin Santana and the rout is on at 7-0.
B4: When Danny Santana takes you into the bullpen, it might not be your day. First homer in 67 at-bats, dating back to the end of May, when he hit two in his first two games.
B4: As he did Wednesday night, Martinez plasters a changeup over the plate and sends it out to left-center. Third homer in five days.
T4: Eovaldi is cruising through four scoreless innings and is doing so with some efficiency, needing just 45 pitches to do so. Red Sox could use a deep start to further rest the bullpen and Eovaldi looks like he's in position to provide one.
T2: Poor baserunning on the part of Hunter Dozier, who tries to advance to third on a ball hit in front of him and finds himself thrown out.
B1: Red Sox had a chance at a big inning with two on and no out after the Hernandez homer, but a fielder's choice and a double play put an end to that.
B1: For the third time in the last six games, Kike Hernandez leads off the Red Sox home first with a homer.
T1: Nate Eovaldi works around two singles, and after falling behind Ryan O'Hearn 2-and-0, gets him to chase a splitter to strand two.
WHAT's UP: The Red Sox own sole possession of the AL’s best record (50-31, .617)...They are tied with the Giants for the MLB lead in wins. The Sox are a season-high 19 games above .500.....The Sox have won their last six games, the AL’s longest active win streak and the club’s second-longest of the season (nine games, April 5-14)....This is the 15th time the Sox have won at least 50 of their first 81 games, having most recently done so in 2007 and 2018...Under the 10-team playoff format from 2012-2019, 17 of 18 teams who won 50 or more of their first 81 games made the Postseason -- the lone exception being the 2018 Mariners.....The Red Sox are closing out the season’s first half by playing 19 games in 20 days....They are in a stretch of 16 consecutive days with a game (7-2 so far), including a West Coast trip to play Oakland and the Los Angeles Angels...The Red Sox went 17-10 (.630) in April, 15-11 (.577) in May, and 18-10 (.643) in June...The only other teams to win 15 or more games in each month this season are the A’s, Dodgers, Giants, and Padres..... The Red Sox are 26-17 at home, including 26-14 (.650) since getting swept by Baltimore to begin the season...Their .605 win % at home ranks third in the AL. The Sox are an MLB-best 24-14 (.632) on the road.....Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers could become the first Red Sox teammates to start an All-Star Game together at SS and 3B. Bogaerts leads AL shortstops in hits (94), AVG (.330), SLG (.551), OPS (.942), doubles (24), extra-base hits (37), and total bases (157)...He ranks 2nd in OBP (.391)....Devers leads AL 3rd basemen in hits (81), extra-base hits (44), doubles (24), HR (19), RBI (64), AVG (.282), SLG (.571), OPS (.926)...The Sox are an MLB-best 45-4 (.918) when scoring four or more runs, 39-3 when scoring five or more runs, 33-1 when scoring six or more runs, and 24-0 when scoring seven or more runs....The Red Sox have hit four or more HR an MLB-best 7 times this season.....Since giving up 18 runs to Toronto on June 13, the Sox have posted a 3.43 ERA in 15 games....In their last seven games, they have a 2.44 ERA ....Sox pitchers have issued only three walks in this series, compared to 21 strikeouts....The Sox lead the AL with 1.05 HR/9.0 IP ratio....Sox starters have thrown five or more innings 62 times, third-most in the majors (41-21 in those games)...Red Sox relievers rank third in the AL and sixth in the majors in ERA (3.44)...Their nine active relievers have a combined 2.86 ERA for the Sox (77 ER/242.0 IP)....Sox relievers have allowed zero runs in their last 14.2 IP... In their last seven games, they own a 0.39 ERA with only one XBH allowed.....In their last 15 games, Sox relievers have posted a 2.02 ERA (13 ER/58.0 IP)...They have stranded their last 16 inherited runners....Josh Taylor has made 24 consecutive scoreless appearances (19.1 IP), MLB’s longest streak of 2021... Taylor’s streak is the longest by a LHP in Red Sox history....Bogaerts (25 G) and J.D. Martinez (19 G) have the 2 longest active on-base streaks in MLB...Bogaerts has a .362 AVG and .986 OPS during his streak. ...Nathan Eovaldi leads Red Sox starters in wins (eight), ERA (3.67), IP (90.2), and WHIP (1.24)....He is 4-2 with a 2.66 ERA in seven starts beginning May 22 at PHI...He's allowed two runs or fewer in five of those seven starts...Hunter Dozier is 2-for-3 in his career against Eovaldi while Whit Merrifield is 2-for-4.....
NOTES:
* In the final game of the team's homestand, Alex Cora changed up his lineup somewhat, giving Xander Bogaerts a day off from his defensive responsibilities while using him as the DH and inserting usual DH J.D. Martinez into left field. In the coming days, Cora said Rafael Devers will also DH Friday and Martinez will be out of the lineup.. "It's very important to take care of these guys,'' said Cora. "After the All-Star break, we're playing (more than two weeks in a row without a day off). We're not just thinking about the present; we're thinking of the future, too. We're here for the long run. We know where we're at right now. We expect to play deep into the season and for us to be at the top of our game, we have to take care of our players.''
* Kevin Plawecki (hamstring) will be on the trip to the West Coast trip, but isn't ready to come off the IL. The Sox will determine if he needs a rehab assignment to get some at-bats before activating him. Meanwhile Christian Arroyo is beginning a rehab assignment at Worcester. Meanwhile, Bobby Dalbec (hamstring) is likely out of the lineup until Saturday though could potentially be available to pinch-hit in the right spot.
* Cora hinted that the Sox could utilize Tanner Houck as a multi-inning relief option in the coming weeks. "He'll be versatile,'' said Cora. "We've been talking about a few things, where and how we're going to use him. We've got to play all those games in a row against division rivals. We'll stretch him out, that's the most important thing and then we'll decide how we're going to use him. But versatility is something that might come into the equation and he might fit that bill.''