Cole Ragans delivered a solid performance as Kansas City took advantage of its scoring opportunities and the Royals took the final game of this three-game series with an 8-4 victory.
After failing to score a single run in seven innings in their matchup against Kutter Crawford last month, the Royals needed just two batters to get on the scoreboard tonight. After Michael Massey had a strikeout to start the game, Bobby Witt Jr. somehow managed to hit a pretty good sweeper deep and far into the left field corner and over the fence for a solo home run. With discipline, they managed to score another run in the second inning. MJ Melendez worked a walk to open the inning, and after two outs, Kyle Isbel also reached base on balls. Massey was down 1-2 before ripping a strike into right field. Rob Refsnyder mishit the ball slightly, allowing Melendez to score on a bang-bang play at the plate.
After having just one baserunner in the first two innings, Boston struck back in the third. Ragans walked Nick Sogard to start the inning after some close throws didn’t go in his favor. Ceddane Rafaela rolled a ball to second base on what should have been a 4-3 score. However, Massey tried to speed a flip to second base to get Sogard and the ball sailed away, forcing Witt to jump off the base. Safe all around. Jarren Duran struck out and then Refsnyder prevented a potential double play ball, giving Romy Gonzalez his turn with two outs. He got a cutter up the middle and didn’t miss, throwing it into the left bullpen to give Boston a 3-2 lead.
Danny Jansen opened the next inning with a bomb of his own, putting Boston ahead 4-2. But Kansas City fought back in the bottom half of the inning. Melendez took advantage of a tight strike zone to get a walk. Maikel Garcia then hit a ball into the gap between right and center, moving Melendez to third base. With one out and Isbel at bat, Crawford sent a ball to the backstop, allowing Melendez to score and Garcia to advance to second base. Massey then trailed 2-0, but then fought back and got a walk, giving Witt a big scoring opportunity. He also quickly fell behind 2-0, but then hit a high fastball into the right field corner, allowing both runners to score and giving the Royals the lead back. The knock sent Crawford to the showers.
Brennan Bernandino came in from Boston’s bullpen. Vinnie Pasquantino greeted him rudely, took the first strike, then hit a low-and-in fastball deep into the night to give Kansas City a 7-4 lead. Meanwhile, Ragans got in well after Jansen’s home run. The next batter hit a single, but Ragans caught him on a double play and didn’t allow another baserunner until the sixth inning. Witt, determined to take the lead in the MVP race, slammed a ball straight to second base and hit his second home run of the game in the bottom half of the inning.
Matt Quatraro, determined to weaken his pitcher’s line, sent Ragans out for the seventh run after 95 pitches. That allowed Ragans to collect Masataka Yoshida’s 27th hit of the series. He recovered and struck out Sogard before Rafaela delivered the blow that knocked Ragans out of the game. Lucas Erceg was called in to clean up the mess, and that’s exactly what he did, taking Duran and pinch hitter Wilyer Abreu out of the game to end the inning. He also came out for the eighth run, managing a 1-2-3 inning. Will Smith came in for the ninth run and pitched a 1-2-3 run of his own to complete the 8-4 win.
With the win, the Royals improved their record to 64-52. They are a half-game behind Minnesota for the second wild card (with one more win and two more losses) and a game ahead of Boston for third place. Kansas City is off tomorrow before hosting St. Louis for a rare two-game weekend in town.
Cole Ragans: 6.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 2 HR
Cutter Crawford: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
Bobby Witt Jr.: 3-4, 2 HR, 2B, 3 R, 4 RBI
Romy Gonzalez: 1-3, HR, R, 3 RBI
