By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Two home runs from Bobby Witt Jr and a five run fourth inning helped fuel the Royals to an 8-4 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.
The win helped Kansas City avoid a series sweep by the Red Sox and snapped a two game losing streak.
Witt Jr opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with his first home run of the night. A single from Michael Massey in the second inning pushed in MJ Melendez to extend the lead to 2-0.
The Red Sox took the lead in the top of the third inning on a three run home run from second baseman Romy Gonzalez. Catcher Danny Jansen would extend the lead in the fourth inning with a home run of his own.
Trailing 4-2 entering the bottom of the fourth inning, the Royals offense would explode for five runs. The scoring would start on a wild pitch from Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford, bringing in Melendez from third base. Kansas City would take the lead back on a two RBI double from Witt Jr, scoring Maikel Garcia and Massey.
Reliever Brennan Bernadino would come on for Crawford to face Vinnie Pasquantino, who would welcome the bullpen arm with a home run to right field to cap the scoring in the inning.
The final run of the game came in the sixth inning on Witt Jr's second home run of the game. Witt Jr was 3 for 4 in the game and drove in four runs.
Cole Ragans improved to 9-7 on the season, pitching 6.1 innings and striking out seven, giving up all four runs, though just one was earned, on six hits. Lucas Erceg and Will Smith combined for 2.2 scoreless, hitless innings. Erceg struck out two batters.
The Royals are off on Thursday. The second half of the I-70 series will begin on Friday when the St. Louis Cardinals come to Kansas City. Michael Lorenzen will make his second start for the Royals since being traded by the Texas Rangers, taking on Miles Mikolas. First pitch is at 7:10pm
Kansas City swept the Cardinals in the first half of the I-70 series during a doubleheader on July 10th, winning 6-4 in the first game and 8-5 in game two.