Kutter Crawford tossed seven-plus scoreless innings to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 5-0 victory over the visiting Kansas City Royals on Saturday.
Crawford (6-7) limited the Royals to two hits while striking out four and walking one. He exited after allowing a leadoff single to Maikel Garcia in the eighth inning. The only other hit against him was a double by Garrett Hampson with one out in the third.
Crawford also pitched seven scoreless innings in his previous start to help the Red Sox defeat the New York Yankees 3-0 on July 7. He threw 68 pitches (54 strikes) in that game.
Rafael Devers hit his 22nd home run of the season on Saturday and Dominic Smith added two hits and two RBIs for Boston, which began the day tied with Kansas City for the final wild card spot in the American League.
Devers’ home run was the 194th of his career and moved him past Jason Varitek and into the No. 11 spot for most home runs by a Red Sox player in franchise history. Devers, Jarren Duran and Reese McGuire collected two hits for Boston.
Royals starting pitcher Seth Lugo (11-4) began the day with the lowest ERA in the major leagues (2.21), but allowed five runs on 10 hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out six. His ERA rose to 2.48.
The loss ended Kansas City’s four-game winning streak.
The Red Sox struck first when Smith singled and scored on McGuire’s double in the second.
Boston extended its lead to 4-0 by scoring three runs with two outs in the third. Wilyer Abreu made it 2-0 when his double drove in Masataka Yoshida, and Smith followed with a two-run single that scored Devers and Abreu.
Devers’ home run put the Red Sox up 5-0 in the fifth.
Kansas City was held to four hits, two of which came with two outs in the ninth.
–Field Level Media