Behind 2-for-4 efforts and a combined five RBIs from Wilyer Abreu and Trevor Story, the Boston Red Sox scored five runs across the sixth and seventh innings en route to a 6-2 win over the visiting Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.
The middle-of-the-order duo supported starter Garrett Crochet (13-4), who earned his sixth consecutive win after dealing seven innings of four-hit, two-run ball with eight strikeouts.
Story drove in three with RBI hits in each of those multi-run innings, including a go-ahead, two-run single into center field in the sixth.
Jarren Duran and Romy Gonzalez also had 2-for-4 nights for Boston, which has won seven straight games and four straight series.
Maikel Garcia went 2-for-3 with an RBI double and a run for Kansas City. Ryan Bergert (1-1) lost his Royals debut despite allowing just two runs on two hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Gonzalez’s one-out single in the third marked the first hit for either side and set the table for the Red Sox to take a 1-0 lead. After tagging up on David Hamilton’s fly ball to deep center, Gonzalez crossed the plate on Duran’s opposite-field double off the Green Monster.
Crochet retired the first 10 Royals he faced before Bobby Witt Jr. ripped a triple high off the center field wall with one out in the fourth. Two batters later, Garcia knocked an RBI double through the left side to tie the score.
Abreu also made an impact with the glove, making a running catch on Nick Loftin’s drive into the right field corner in the fifth.
Two-out offense in the sixth helped the Red Sox jump back in front. After Bregman drew a walk to end Bergert’s night, Abreu greeted Kansas City reliever Angel Zerpa with another wall-ball double before Story’s go-ahead hit.
In the seventh, Randal Grichuk brought the Royals back within a run on a one-out double just out of Duran’s jumping reach in left. Garcia drew a leadoff walk to start the inning against Crochet, who limited the damage with back-to-back strikeouts.
Eight Red Sox came to the plate a half-inning later as the lead grew with four two-out runs. After John Schreiber issued a pair of walks and Duran singled in between, Abreu delivered the big blow with a two-RBI single in shallow right.
–Field Level Media
