Jarren Duran hit a three-run home run and the Boston Red Sox extended their winning streak to six games by beating the visiting Kansas City Royals 8-5 Monday night.
Duran’s home run, his 12th of the season, came against Royals starting pitcher Bailey Falter (7-6), who was making his Kansas City debut after being acquired from Pittsburgh. Falter gave up seven runs on eight hits in four innings. He struck out two batters and walked one.
The Red Sox received a strong pitching performance from Brayan Bello, who limited the Royals to one run on six hits in six innings. Bello (8-5) struck out five and walked one. Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth to earn his 21st save.
Romy Gonzalez, Alex Bregman and Wilyer Abreu — the first three hitters in Boston’s batting order — each collected two hits in the win.
Vinnie Pasquantino and Maikel Garcia hit solo home runs for the Royals, who received two-hit performances from Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr. and Mike Yastrzemski.
Boston’s Roman Anthony was a late scratch with what the team called back tightness. Abreu replaced Anthony in right field and hit third.
The Red Sox took a 5-0 lead in the first inning, which included a two-run single from Rob Refsnyder before Duran hit his three-run homer. Refsnyder’s single extended his hitting streak to five games. Falter threw 38 pitches in the inning.
Boston stretched its lead to 6-0 when Ceddanne Rafaela’s single drove in Trevor Story in the third.
It was 6-1 after Salvador Perez scored on Adam Frazier’s sacrifice fly in the fourth, but Boston added a run in the bottom half of the inning. Abraham Toro scored on Alex Bregman’s two-out single. Boston led 8-1 after Abreu drove in Gonzalez in the seventh.
Kansas City kept things interesting by scoring four runs in the eighth. The home runs by Pasquantino and Garcia cut Boston’s lead to 8-3. Frazier added an RBI single that drove in Yastrzemski before scoring on Nick Loftin’s double to make it 8-5.
The eighth inning ended when Abreu threw out Loftin at home as he attempted to score on Witt’s single.
Jarren Duran, Brayan Bello lead streaking Red Sox over Royals
