Witt, Melendez both homer to help Royals beat Red Sox 6-1 for 4th straight win

BOSTON (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. and MJ Melendez each had solo home runs, Cole Ragans allowed one run over seven innings and the Kansas City Royals beat the Boston Red Sox-6-1 on Friday night for their fourth consecutive victory.

Adam Frazier, Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez all added RBIs for Kansas City, which opened the three-game series a game back of Boston for the AL’s final wild-card spot.

It was the 16th homer of the season for Witt, an All-Star who will be competing in Monday’s Home Run Derby.

Ragans (6-6) struck out seven and allowed four hits to earn his first victory since June 24 at Miami.

Ceddanne Rafaela had an RBI for the Red Sox.

Cooper Criswell (3-4) threw a career-high 104 pitches over six innings, yielding eight hits and five runs, but only two – including Witt’s home run – were earned.

The Royals opened the game with three consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs, and then took a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by Perez. But Criswell got Michael Massey on a groundout and Hunter Renfroe on a flyout to get out of the inning.

Criswell’s luck didn’t last.

In the second inning Kansas City took advantage of a fielding error by first baseman Romy Gonzalez, plus a walk and hit batter by Criswell to add three unearned runs and increase the lead to 4-0.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: Placed RHP Justin Slaten on the 15-day IL retroactive to July 9 with right elbow inflammation. The reliever is 5-2 with a 3.38 ERA in 31 games this season. LHP Cam Booser was called up from Triple-A Worcester to take the roster spot.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Seth Lugo (11-3, 2.21 ERA) has the lowest ERA by a Royal over his first 19 starts with the franchise. He is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in three career appearances against Boston.

Red Sox: RHP Kutter Crawford (5-7, 3.24) is making his 19th start of the season. He’s lost both of his career starts against Kansas City, tallying an 8.64 ERA.

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