The Boston Red Sox entered Tuesday night hoping to string together back-to-back wins for the first time in over a week, but that just wasn’t the case.
Boston fell to Kansas City 6-2 in Game 2 of their three-game set at Fenway Park as the Royals roughed up Sox starter Andrew Cashner. Kansas City hit three home runs to power its way past the right-hander.
The Red Sox fall to 60-56 with the loss, while the Royals climb to 41-74 with the win.
Here’s how it went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Disappointing.
Monday’s game left the Red Sox looking sharp, but it was quite the opposite on Tuesday.
ON THE BUMP
— Things looked grim out of the gate for Cashner after Whit Merrifield rocketed a line drive double off the Green Monster. But after merely coming off the bag, Michael Chavis laid the tag on him, leading to a video review which ended in Merrifield being ruled out. Thanks to this, Cashner retired the side in order.
The right-hander cruised through the next two innings before Jorge Soler smoked a two-out, two-run bomb over the Green Monster in the fourth to put Kansas City ahead 2-1. The 412-foot shot was Soler’s 30th of the season.
One inning later, Cashner was locked into a long at-bat with Ryan O’Hearn. On the 10th pitch, the righty left a changeup up in the zone, and O’Hearn took him deep to right field, making it 3-1 Kansas City.
The Royals extended their lead to three in the sixth on a Hunter Dozier RBI-base hit, but they weren’t done there. Soler hit his second two-run homer of the night in the next at-bat to make it 6-1. Cheslor Cuthbert came up next and ripped a single to right, ending Cashner’s night.
Cashner gave up six earned runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander now has a 7.53 ERA in five starts with the Red Sox. He’s given up eight home runs over that span.
— Josh Taylor came in and induced an inning-ending double play to escape without further damage.
Taylor returned for a scoreless seventh.
— Marcus Walden allowed just one walk in a scoreless eighth inning.
— Darwinzon Hernandez struck out the side in order in the ninth.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Rafael Devers lined a one-out double down the left-field line in the third inning. Andrew Benintendi stepped in two batters later to drive him in for Boston’s first run of the evening and his 60th RBI of the year.
— J.D. Martinez led off the eighth with a ground-rule double to right. He’d eventually score on a Christian Vazquez double later in the inning, making it 6-2.
— Martinez and Vazquez collected Boston’s only two multi-hit nights with two hits apiece.
— The Red Sox outhit Kansas City nine to seven, but left eight runners on base. They were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
TWEET OF THE DAY
There wasn’t a whole lot to cheer about on Tuesday night.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox wrap up their three-game series with the Royals on Wednesday night at Fenway Park. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. ET.
