Red Sox Notes: Royals Bats Capitalize On Boston’s Pitching Staff

The Boston Red Sox dropped Tuesday night’s contest against the Kansas City Royals with a disappointing 9-3 finish at Fenway Park.

The Royals took early momentum early on against Kutter Crawford. The right-hander had been solid for Boston as of late, pitching to a 3.59 ERA in July and tossing five scoreless innings in his last start against the Seattle Mariners.

Crawford could not replicate the same performance, allowing three runs on seven hits, including a two-run homer to Drew Waters, in just 3 1/3 innings. Tuesday was the 27-year-old’s first start of three or fewer innings since June 7 against the Cleveland Guardians.

“Talking to Connor (Wong), he got swings and misses but the location was off,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “The stuff was OK, I think. He was able to get the fastball up. He got some swings and misses on the breaking ball. Overall, he left some pitches in the middle of the zone and they put good swings on it.”

Pitching at Fenway Park has been a challenge for Crawford, tallying an 0-3 record and a 6.23 ERA compared to a 2.13 ERA across 50 2/3 innings of work on the road in 2023, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage.

“There was definitely some swing-and-miss but there was also balls that stayed over the heart of the plate,” Crawford said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “When you fall behind, it forces you to be finer on the edges. I wasn’t able to do that tonight.”

Pulling Crawford with one out in the fourth inning meant more work for an already taxed Boston bullpen that came into Tuesday with the fifth-most relief innings pitched in baseball and the third-most in the American League.

Kansas City powered two more home run balls as Brennan Bernardino, Dinelson Lamet and Nick Robertson pieced together the final 5 2/3 innings of the ballgame.

After serving as a bulk reliever throughout July, Nick Pivetta makes another start and looks to rest the bullpen on Wednesday, as Alex Cora confirmed on NESN’s postgame.

Red Sox Wrap: Long Balls Lift Royals To Win Over Boston

Aug 8, 2023

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

— The Red Sox remain five games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, who fell 1-0 to the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday, in the American League Wild Card race.

— The Royals left 11 runners on base, including five in the first three innings. Kansas City also stole six bases on Tuesday night.

— With his RBI single in the fifth inning, Connor Wong recorded an RBI for the second straight game to open the series. Both run-producing hits came in the fifth inning to the opposite field.

— In his first big league game since Sept. 11, 2022, shortstop Trevor Story went 0-for-4 as the 30-year-old returns to the infield for the Red Sox.

— Lamet made his Red Sox debut, allowing three earned runs on four hits in two innings. The right-hander formerly came in fourth place in National League Cy Young Voting during the 2020 season with the San Diego Padres. Boston signed the former starter after being designated for assignment by the Colorado Rockies.

— The Red Sox suffered their first loss in 2023 in their yellow “City Connect” uniforms. The team is now 22-5 all-time in the alternate jerseys.

— The Red Sox continue their four-game series with the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.