Red Sox Notes: Alex Cora Breathes Deep Following Walk-Off Win Vs. Royals

Pablo Reyes hit a grand slam off Carlos Hernandez in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs to lift the Red Sox to victory over the Kansas City Royals after blowing a two-run lead.

It was Reyes’ first home run of the season and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Boston after being swept by the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend.

PABLOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/o8LreARSju

— NESN (@NESN) August 8, 2023

“It was a big one,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters, after taking a deep breath on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Let’s see where it takes us. Sometimes games like that kind of get you going and we needed it. … We had a tough weekend. We’re coming from a tough week and this a great way to start the week.”

Reyes went 3-for-4 on the night, hitting a triple shy of the cycle, scoring three runs and knocking in four RBIs.

“He’s a good kid and there’s a reason he’s here,” Cora said. “We like his versatility. … He’s a really good player and a good kid. … It was a great game for Pablo. I’m very proud of him.”

Reyes was given the chance to be the hero due to the shutdown pitching from Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen in the eighth and ninth innings. Each of the relievers retired the side in order with both using only 13 pitches to get the outs.

“Chris (Martin), that’s impressive,” Cora said. “It seems like every outing it’s 12 pitches or 13 pitches and that he has the ability to hit the spots. You don’t see that at this level, like back in the day. … He hits his spots. He uses all of his pitches and that’s why he’s one of the best in the big leagues. I think that really helped us this year having those two in the back end and then everything else falls into place.”

Here are more notes from Monday’s Red Sox-Royals game:

— The Red Sox improve to 7-0 on the season and 10 straight dating back to July 28, 2022, when wearing their yellow City Connect jerseys.

— The walk-off win was the fifth of the season for the Red Sox, the first since Alex Verdugo hit a home run at Fenway on May 1 against the Blue Jays.

— The Red Sox improved to 5-4 in walk-off games, 31-26 at home this season, 38-14 when scoring first and 21-16 in the opening game of a series.

— Boston will look to build on the momentum of the win in the second game of the series against Kansas City. Kutter Crawford is slated to make the start for the Red Sox. NESN’s full coverage of the game begins at 6:00 p.m. ET.