KANSAS CITY, Missouri – The Kansas City Royals had to react.
After a successful road trip that included six wins against the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers, the Royals fully saw their opportunity.
KC hosted the Boston Red Sox for three games at Kauffman Stadium. Both teams were fighting for the playoffs and were separated by 2.5 games. It was an important series as the hunt for the postseason is in full swing.
The Royals quickly realized that their American League opponents posed a difficult challenge. Boston won the first two games of the series and the season tiebreaker.
And hoped for the sweep on Wednesday evening.
With their claim to the last wild card spot in the AL fading, the Royals relied on their MVP candidate, superstar Bobby Witt Jr. The 2024 All-Star stepped up and led the Royals to an 8-4 victory in a landmark game.
Witt finished the game 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs. He began his night with a solo home run against Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford. He hit a 421-footer deep into the KC night in the sixth inning to chants of “MVP.”
The Royals scored seven more hits to punctuate Wednesday’s victory, improving to 64-52 and extending their wild-card lead to 1.5 games over the Red Sox. Boston fell to 61-52.
“It’s huge,” Witt said. “The Red Sox are a strong team and they swing the bat well. So we were trying to score runs and Cole (Ragans) was doing his thing and the bullpen came in and shut the door.”
The Red Sox attacked Royals starter Cole Ragan’s early hit behind second baseman Romy Gonzalez. In the third inning, Gonzalez hit a three-run home run to give the Red Sox a 3-2 lead.
It was his fourth home run of the season and his second of the Series. But Ragans shook off the early mistakes. He managed to go 6 1/3 innings, allowing four runs (one earned) and two walks and striking out seven batters.
“I thought I made some good shots, but I thought I made some bad ones,” Ragans said. “Obviously they made me pay with some bad shots. But the offense did a great job of catching me there. The defense does what it does.”
The Royals gave him enough run support. In the fourth inning, KC scored five runs and knocked Crawford out of the game. The Red Sox starter suffered his ninth loss when he allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings.
Here are other notable events from Wednesday’s game:
Royals offense explodes in the fourth inning
