Kansas City scored three runs over the first three innings and let its pitching do the rest as the Royals held on to beat the host Boston Red Sox 3-2 in their three-game series opener on Friday night.
Carter Jensen (two doubles) and Salvador Perez each went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Royals (66-82), who were just 3-7 in their previous 10 games.
Seth Lugo (7-8) scattered seven hits and struck out seven across five innings of two-run ball for the victory. Steven Cruz finished off his seventh save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Mickey Gasper hit his ninth homer of the season and Wilyer Abreu went 2-for-4 with an RBI double for the Red Sox (80-68), who were held to just one hit over the final four innings. They have lost three straight since a five-game winning streak.
The Royals jumped ahead with a pair of first-inning hits off Sonny Gray (17-5), who went six frames. After Jensen crushed a leadoff double off the wall in deep center field, Perez knocked a two-out RBI single inside the third base line to open the scoring.
After Gray responded with a 1-2-3 second, Isaac Collins and Jensen started the third with back-to-back doubles, extending Kansas City’s lead to 2-0. Jensen’s wall-ball double high off the Green Monster brought in the run. Two batters later, Vinnie Pasquantino’s single through the right side made it a three-run game before a double play ended the inning.
The Red Sox wasted two singles in each of the first two innings and had baserunners in the first four, with Lugo posting inning-ending strikeouts in two of them. Gasper’s one-out solo shot into the right-center field bullpen got the home team on the scoreboard in the fifth.
After Adley Rutschman walked immediately following the homer, Wilyer Abreu’s RBI double high off the Monster brought the hosts within 3-2. Lugo stopped the threat there, striking out back-to-back batters.
Nolan Hoffman and Connor Thomas relieved Lugo with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings, and Nate Pearson stranded Trevor Story on second base following a one-out double in the eighth. Story eluded second baseman Michael Massey’s tag to reach safely.
The Royals had a chance to extend their lead after Perez and Massey started the eighth with back-to-back singles, with Rutschman catching pinch runner Tyler Tolbert stealing second in between. Jovani Moran stranded two to end the inning before striking out two in the ninth.
