Archives for September 12, 2026

FENWAY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s Ranger Suarez tossed his second straight seven-inning start and the Red Sox scored in their final three at-bats en route to a 5-1 win over the visiting Kansas City Royals on Saturday afternoon in Boston.

Suarez (7-4) struck out eight, scattered five hits and allowed one run while completing his seven frames in 96 pitches as Boston (81-68) snapped its three-game losing streak.

Roman Anthony, Adley Rutschman and Nick Sogard each had multiple hits while Wilyer Abreu hit a two-run double that gave the Red Sox a sixth-inning lead they would not relinquish.

Carter Jensen’s 24th home run of the season marked the only scoring for Kansas City (66-83), which opened the series with a win Friday.

The Red Sox took the lead with two runs on three straight hits in the sixth. After Mickey Gasper and Rutschman knocked back-to-back singles to right to chase Royals starter Randy Dobnak (3-4), Abreu drove them home with a two-out double to deep center off reliever Anthony Gose.

The lead grew in each of the next two frames, beginning with Sogard hitting a leadoff double and scoring on Caleb Durbin’s RBI single off the Green Monster in the seventh.

After Garrett Whitlock struck out the side in the Royals’ eighth, Trevor Story and Sogard posted back-to-back doubles to plate another run.

Aroldis Chapman followed with a scoreless ninth to tab Suarez with the victory.

The teams plowed through three scoreless innings with just one baserunner: Bobby Witt Jr.’s one-out single in Kansas City’s opening frame. Suarez stranded him on third after recording back-to-back outs, including an inning-ending strikeout of Vinnie Pasquantino.

Suarez retired the Royals 1-2-3 on 10 pitches in the second and third innings while Dobnak faced the minimum, striking out three batters through the first third of the game.

In the fourth, Anthony turned a leadoff single through the right side into the opening run. After moving to second on Gasper’s grounder, Anthony scored when Rutschman knocked a single into center.

After finishing the fourth around Pasquantino’s two-out double, Suarez retired five straight before Jensen’s one-out solo homer inside Pesky’s Pole in the sixth. The southpaw stranded runners in the next two frames, including back-to-back strikeouts to cap the seventh.

–Field Level Media

FENWAY – (Wire Service Report) – 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.