Red Sox Wrap: Hunter Renfroe’s Two-Home Run Night Lifts Boston To Win Vs. Royals

Things were looking grim for a bit, but the Red Sox were able to pull off a win.

Boston defeated the Kansas City Royals 6-5 on Monday night at Fenway Park in a game that featured six home runs.

Garrett Richards struggled through his first two innings and allowed Kansas City to take a hefty lead before the offense turned things on. The right-hander surrendered 11 hits through 5 2/3 innings.

Hunter Renfroe continued to prove his worth to the Red Sox with two home runs, including what would be the game-winner.

With the win, the Red Sox moved to 48-31, while the Royals fell to 33-44.

Here’s how it all went down:

GAME IN A WORD
Homers.

Each team amassed three round-trippers in the game.

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ON THE BUMP
— Richards attacked the strike zone early in the first, but the Royals still were able to get to him.

The Royals led the game off with back-to-back singles from Whit Merifield and Jorge Soler which was followed up with a three-run home run off the bat of Carlos Santana to make it 3-0.

Richards allowed another single, but got out of the inning without allowing another run.

The Royals continued to get to Richards in the second, and opened up the game 4-1 thanks to a Michael Taylor solo home run to begin the inning. But things didn’t get any easier for Richards as Merrifield also took the pitcher deep to put the Royals up 5-1.

Richards settled down and bounced back with a scoreless third, fourth and fifth. He got two outs in the sixth, but a two-out single forced manager Alex Cora to make a change.

— Hirokazu Sawamura needed one pitch to get the third and final out.

He returned for the seventh and pitched a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout.

— Josh Tayor had the eighth and sat the Royals down in order.

— Matt Barnes closed the game out with his 17th save of the season.

IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Kiké Hernández, much like he did in Sunday’s win over the New York Yankees, got the Red Sox their first run of the game by way of a solo home run in the first inning to bring the Red Sox within two runs and make it a 3-1 game.

— Bobby Dalbec hit the fifth home run of the game in the second inning to cut into Kansas City’s lead, 5-2.

— The Red Sox made it a whole new ballgame in the fourth.

Xander Bogaerts began the frame with a double, which led to Hunter Renfroe continuing to remain red-hot with a two-run shot that traveled 439-feet to make it 5-4.

The inning continued when Michael Chavis tied it at 5-5 with an RBI single. He attempted to steal second, but was thrown out to end the fourth.

— None other than Renfroe gave Boston its first lead of the night with his second home run of the game that only took about two seconds to leave Fenway Park.

— Hernández, Renfroe and Dalbec had two hits apiece.

TWEET OF THE GAME
*insert heart eyes emoji*

UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Royals continue their series Tuesday night at Fenway Park. Nick Pivetta is expected to take the hill. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. ET.