FINAL: Royals 9, Red Sox 3 - Trevor Story hitless in return from injury

WHO: Royals (36-78) at Red Sox (58-54)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m. 
WHERE: Fenway Park, Boston.
SERIES TO DATE: Boston leads, 1-0.
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Brady Singer (7-8, 5.10) vs. RHP Kutter Crawford (5-5, 3.62)
TV/RADIO: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUP 

RED SOX

Duran LF
Yoshida LF
Story SS
Devers 3B
Casas 1B
Duvall CF
Verdugo RF
Reyes 2B
Wong C
Crawford SP

ROYALS

Garcia 3B
Witt Jr. SS
Massey 2B
Perez C
Melendez LF
Olivares DH 
Beaty 1B 
Waters RF
Isbel CF
Singer SP 

PRE-GAME NOTES 

IF Trevor Story returns to the lineup hitting third and playing shortstop for the first time since Sept. 11, 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. In a corresponding move, the Red Sox designated IF Yu Chang for assignment. Tuesday marks Story's first start at shortstop as a member of the Red Sox after playing second base last year. 

IF Justin Turner (heel soreness) is out of the lineup. Alex Cora said the IL is not currently under consideration as Boston tries to rest the injury. 

“He’s a little banged up,” Cora said. “We’re probably gonna stay away from J.T. today, tomorrow and maybe the last game of the series. Hopefully, we can get him ready for the weekend. With that, we’ll talk to Trevor on a daily basis to see how he feels... we’ll make sure it’s a day-to-day thing.”

WHAT'S UP

The Red Sox snapped a 4-game losing streak last night, earning their 5th walk-off win of the season...The Sox are 7-7 in their last 14 games...At 58-54 (.518), Boston owns MLB’s 14th-best record....Pablo Reyes hit a walk-off grand slam in the 9th inning last night to defeat the Royals, 6-2...It was the Sox’ 21st game-ending slam in franchise history and 1st since Franchy Cordero’s on 5/22/22 vs. SEA (10th inn.)...It was also Boston’s 6th grand slam of the year (previous: Yoshida-7/16 at CHC; 5th inn.)...Reyes went 3-for-4 (3 R, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, SB)...He matched career highs in hits, RBI, XBH, and runs scored... Brayan Bello recorded his 11th quality start this year (6.2 IP, 6 H, R, 2 BB, 2 SO)...Boston will wear their Nike City Connect Series uniforms again tonight...They are 22-4 when wearing them since their unveiling in April 2021, having won each of their last 10 games, beginning 7/28/22 (7-0 in 2023)....They’ve outscored opponents 141-77 when wearing them... The Sox last night snapped a 3-game home losing streak...They’re 10-4 in their last 14 home games...In 15 home games since the start of July, the Sox have hit .295 with an .835 OPS (50 XBH: 28 2B, 3 3B, 19 HR)... At home, the Sox lead the majors in AVG (.288) and OBP (.354)...They also rank 3rd in OPS (.821), 4th in SLG (.467), and 5th in runs scored per game (5.5).... Boston owns MLB’s best record when scoring 5+ runs (47-7, .870)...Last night, they snapped a stretch of 4 straight games scoring fewer than 5 runs.... Since 6/14, they’ve won 20 of their last 21 games when scoring 5+ runs, including each of their last 6 since 7/22....Yesterday began a stretch of 7 straight games against AL Central teams (1-0 vs. KC, 3 vs. DET)...They’re 3-2-1 in series against AL Central opponents (3-0 at DET, 2-1 vs. MIN, 2-1 vs. CLE, 1-2 at CLE, 2-2 at MIN, 1-2 at CWS)...Kutter Crawford making his 2nd career start against the Royals (8/7/22 at KC: 5.0 IP, L, 5 R, 5 H)....In 4 starts since the All-Star break, has a 2.18 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and .169 opponent AVG (20.2 IP, 5 R, 12-for-71, 6 BB, 23 SO)...Allowed 0 or 1 R in 3 of those 4 outings...In his last 8 starts (beginning 6/20), is 4-2 with a 3.05 ERA (41.1 IP, 14 ER, 1.04 WHIP)....Owns a 2.13 ERA on the road (12 ER/50.2 IP) and a 6.03 ERA at home (21 ER/31.1 IP)....Ranks in MLB’s 75th percentile or higher in chase rate (88th), walk rate (85th), fastball spin (90th), and expected opponent AVG (77th)...Opponents have hit .171 vs. his 4-seam fastball (18-for-105), MLB’s 6th-lowest mark against that pitch (6th out of 132, min. 100 PA)....