FINAL: Red Sox 6, Royals 2 - Pablo Reyes hits a walk-off grand slam
WHO: Royals (36-77) at Red Sox (57-54)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park, Boston.
SERIES TO DATE: Series tied, 0-0.
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Cole Ragans (3-3, 4.21 ERA) vs. RHP Bryan Bello (8-6, 3.76 ERA)
TV/RADIO: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7
LINEUP
RED SOX
Refsnyder CF
Yoshida LF
Turner DH
Devers 3B
Duvall RF
Casas 1B
Urías 2B
Reyes SS
Wong C
Bello SP
ROYALS
Garcia 3B
Witt Jr. SS
Massey 2B
Melendez DH
Beaty 1B
Fermin C
Waters RF
Blanco LF
Isbel CF
Ragans SP
PRE-GAME NOTES
The Red Sox will activate IF Trevor Story tomorrow to begin playing approximately every other day after 13 games with Worcester and Double-A Portland, making 9 starts at SS and 4 as the DH (.300 AVG, 12-for-40, 4 2B, 4 HR, 8 R, 9 RBI, 7 BB, HBP, SB). Story initially intended to continue his rehab with Worcester through Wednesday, his last day contractually, before returning Thursday.
Boston will activate LHP Chris Sale on Friday to start against the Tigers. Sale tossed made his 2nd rehab start yesterday at Syracuse, striking out 7 batters over 4.1 scoreless innings (3 H, 53 pitches)...He also tossed 2.0 scoreless innings on Tuesday at Syracuse (H, 2 BB, 3 SO, 40 pitches).
RHP Garrett Whitlock will pitch one more minor league game before the Red Sox activate him as a reliever.
The Red Sox recalled RHP Dinelson Lamet and designated LHP Richard Bleier. Lamet is active tonight. Boston moved on from Bleier (5.28 ERA) after acquiring him in a January trade from the Marlins for RHP Matt Barnes. Colorado released Lamet after he posted an 11.57 in 25 2/3 innings. He emerged as a Cy Young candidate in the shortened 2020 season for San Diego after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2018. The Padres traded him to the Brewers, who waived him last season before Colorado acquired him and did the same this year, leading to his arrival in Worcester. He posted a 3.72 ERA in 19.1 innings with 16 strikeouts and 7 walks.
WHAT'S UP
The Red Sox have lost 7 of their last 8 games...Prior to this stretch, they owned MLB’s best record since 6/30 (16-5) and the AL’s best since 6/14 (23-12)...Boston will wear their Nike City Connect Series uniforms tonight...They are 21-4 when wearing them since their unveiling in April 2021, having won each of their last 9 games, beginning 7/28/22 (6-0 in 2023)...The Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays yesterday, 13-1, setting a season high in runs allowed...The Sox over the weekend lost their 3rd straight series...They snapped a streak of 4 straight home series wins from 7/4-26...The Red Sox today begin a stretch of 10 straight games against teams who currently hold a record below .500 (4 vs. KC, 3 vs. DET, 3 at WSH)...The Sox were 3-4 against the Royals in 2022...They went 15-4 vs. KC from 2018-21...Boston is an AL-best 46-7 (.868) when scoring 5+ runs, the 2nd-best record in MLB (ATL-.875)...They’ve scored fewer than 5 runs in 8 of their last 9 games...Bello is making his 1st career appearance against the Royals...Earned his team-leading 8th win Tuesday night at SEA, after allowing 4 runs over 6.0 IP (8 H, 7 SO, 2 BB HR)...The Sox improved to 12-6 in his starts...Owns a 3.29 ERA (20 ER/54.2 IP) in 10 games at Fenway Park this season...Is 5-2 with a 3.65 ERA, .227 opponent AVG, and 1.08 WHIP in his last 9 starts (56.2 IP, 20 R, 48-for-211, 13 BB, 43 SO, 3 HB)...Has tossed 6.0+ innings in 9 of his last 10 starts (7.0+ in 4 of his last 6)...
The Royals suffered a series-deciding, 8-4 loss in Philadelphia yesterday to mark their first series defeat since July 24-26 at Cleveland, snapping a two-set win streak...they blew a 3-run lead for the 2nd straight game...Salvador Perez exited in the 2nd inning with a left hand contusion after being hit by a pitch, but X-rays were negative...lead the American League in several offensive categories, including runs per game (6.3), triples (5), stolen bases (19), batting average (.290), slugging percentage (.487), OPS (.826) and batting average in scoring situations (.321) over the last nine games ...The Royals are 7-2 over the last 10 days, which trails only Baltimore and Seattle (8) in the win column....The Royals blew a 3-run lead yesterday in Philadelphia for the 2nd straight game to suffer their Major League-most 37th blown lead loss of the season, more than the White Sox (35), Cardinals (34) and Athletics (32)...The Royals have not been charged with an error since July 28 vs. Minnesota...Bobby Witt Jr. didn’t play yesterday after going 0-for-3 with a walk and an RBI groundout Saturday night, snapping a 7-game hit streak in which he hit .531 (17-for-32) with 7 extra-base hits,15 RBI and 4 stolen bases...his 2.6 fWAR since the start of June ranks tied for 4th among American League position players, trailing only Shohei Ohtani (4.4), Corey Seager (3.1) and Luis Robert (2.7)...Ragans is making his 3rd start of the season (20th appearance) and 12th start of his career tonight vs. the Red Sox...he earned his 1st win for Kansas City with a career-high 6.0-shutout innings, scattering 7 hits and a walk with a career-high 8 strikeouts en route to the Royals 4-0 victory over the Mets...A 1st-round selection in 2016, Cole overcame two Tommy John surgeries and missed the 2020 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to become one of the top minor league pitchers in 2022...