Red Sox 6, Royals 5: Masa Keeps Mashing

Yoshida’s clutch hits and Dom Smith’s suave slide gave Boston their third straight win.

Creeping within a game-and-a-half of the Royals for the final playoff spot, and tied in the loss column, the Boston Red Sox sent Brayan Bello to the mound against Seth Lugo on Tuesday night. It was Lugo’s second chance to face the Red Sox on the season, after allowing five runs and ten hits in five innings at Fenway in July. Lugo didn’t fare much better this time around, though some of it was not his fault.

Boston got the pitch count up early against Lugo, which they’ve done a great job of doing against several of the better starting pitchers in the league. Over the first two batters of the game, Jarren Duran saw seven pitches and Wilyer Abreu six. The Sox weren’t able to score and the Royals took the 1-0 lead when Vinnie Pasquantino singled in Bobby Witt Jr.

Through two innings, Lugo had already thrown 45 pitches and given up two unearned runs, thanks to a Michael Massey error which put two on with nobody out in the top of the second. With runners on 1^st and 3^rd with one out, a failed safety squeeze from David Hamilton was a blessing when he ripped a ground-rule double moments later to score Connor Wong and tie the game 1-1. Ceddanne Rafaela knocked in the second run on a ground ball to first which Pasquantino could have gone home with, but got the out.

In the third, Masataka Yoshida continued his monster series against the Royals pulling the hands in and crushing a splitter down-and-in to right field for a solo home run.

Staked with a 3-1 lead, this outing encapsulated the Brayan Bello 2024 experience. There was a time in the fifth inning when I pondered whether Bello is currently, at this very moment, the pitcher that is in the best form in the Red Sox rotation. Sitting 96 MPH with the sinker, Bello topped out at 97.8. He had struck out six batters through 4 2/3 innings, and all of those K’s were swinging, with several hitters looking downright foolish. On the night, Bello got 13 whiffs on 44 swings (30%). He also got help from a great catch by Rafael Devers at third base.

With two outs in the fifth, in seemingly no time, we saw a Michael Massey home run, a Witt single, a Pasquantino double to tie the game, a Salvador Perez walk, and that was the night for Bello. I’m no lingering pondering about Bello but that could change next time out. Pasquantino’s double would have been a home run in 22 ballparks, but the ball stayed in the yard keeping the game 3-to-3. If you blinked, you missed Brennan Bernardino’s appearance, arriving for one pitch and getting MJ Melendez to fly out ending the 5^th.

After leaving the bases loaded in the fifth, the Red Sox were threatening again in the sixth which seemed temporarily like they were squandering another opportunity. Dominic Smith doubled to start the inning but was later cut down at home plate, after hesitating on a passed ball. Cora quickly called for a review and as the replay showed Smith’s hand sneaking in ahead of the tag, there was great rejoicing in the dugout, a run that would eventually be the difference in the game and give Bernardino the W.

Now leading 4-3, I was a bit surprised to see the Royals intentionally walk Rob Refsnyder to get to Yoshida who had four hits yesterday and had already homered in this game. Masa pulled a ground ball into right field to score two more, for a 6-3 Boston lead.

Clean innings from Zack Kelly and Cam Booser brought the game into the eighth inning with the same score. Booser started the eighth, followed by Luis Garcia, who were each charged with a run when Sox-killer MJ Melendez doubled off Garcia to cut the lead to 6-5.

Cora decided to go to Kenley Jansen for four outs which worked to perfection. Jansen struck out three of the four batters he faced, including Maikel Garcia to end the threat in the eighth inning and Bobby Witt to end the game.

The victory not only ensured a third-straight series win for the Red Sox, but also a season-series win over the Royals. With the Red Sox just ½ game behind (albeit with fewer losses than) KC for the third Wild Card, the season series tiebreaker could certainly come into play at the end of September.

On Wednesday night at 8:10 ET, Kutter Crawford (6-8, 3.61) will take the mound against Cole Ragans (7-7, 3.37) as Boston goes for a sweep.

Play of the Game

Maybe not the best decision of the game… or best instincts of the game… but Dominic Smith’s slide into home to take the lead will stick with me for some time.

(Well worth sticking around for the Smith and Cora reactions at the end of this video)