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Leadoff-hitting catcher MJ Melendez went 3-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and four runs scored as the Kansas City Royals cruised to a 9-0 win over the host Boston Red Sox on Saturday.

Brady Singer (9-4) worked six innings in his second consecutive scoreless start for the Royals (58-88), who had lost their previous four games. Singer struck out five and allowed just five hits and a walk.

Vinnie Pasquantino had two RBI singles and an RBI double, and four other Royals logged multiple hits. Bobby Witt Jr. went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored.

Enrique Hernandez and Christian Arroyo had two hits apiece as Boston (70-75) lost for the third time in four games.

Boston starter Rich Hill (7-7) was charged with four runs on eight hits and struck out four over 4 2/3 innings.

Hill retired seven of the first eight batters he faced, with the lone hit during that span coming in the form of Salvador Perez’s two-out single in the first inning.

Kansas City jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third. Melendez lined the go-ahead single into right field to score Nate Eaton, who hit a one-out infield single and stole second.

After a groundout by Bobby Witt Jr. moved Melendez into scoring position, Perez sent a single to the base of the Green Monster in center to make it 2-0.

During the next half-inning, the Red Sox looked to threaten immediately as Hernandez and Connor Wong singled, and Yu Chang walked to load the bases with no outs. But Singer retired the next three batters to escape without any damage done.

The Royals chased Hill with two down in the fifth after Witt lined a one-out single inside third base and Pasquantino dropped a run-scoring hit into right that was misplayed by Boston’s Alex Verdugo in the sun for a double. Ryan Brasier relieved Hill and got out of the inning by facing just one batter.

In the sixth, Franklin German — who was making his major league debut — loaded the bases on a single and two walks before Eaton’s RBI single started a four-run frame. Witt and Pasquantino singled off Eduard Bazardo to extend the Royals’ lead to eight before the end of the inning.

Pasquantino added a run-scoring single to right in the eighth.

–Field Level Media