KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Instant reactions to the Red Sox (20-20) dropping their series opener against the Royals, 2-1, in 12 innings, on a day when the game seemed secondary to John Henry’s impromptu trip to his home state to try to clear the air with Rafael Devers:

1) On the road, not scratching a run across in the top half of an extra-inning frame often spells doom. It did for the Red Sox, who went down in order against Daniel Lynch IV and Steven Cruz in the top of the 12th, then lost when Sean Newcomb allowed a walk-off single to Freddy Fermin.

The Red Sox avoided being shut out for the first time in 2025. They are the last team in the big leagues that hasn’t suffered that fate. Kansas City, which is a staggering 16-5 at home, stayed hot, winning its seventh in a row, 10th of 11 and 16th game in 18 tries.

Boston is now a staggering 4-10 in one-run games so far.

2) In a poetic twist, it was Devers who finally got the Red Sox on the board and broke a scoreless tie in the top of the 11th. He didn’t have to do much, but with the automatic runner on third, the slugger laced a sinker from the left-handed Lynch back up the middle at 103.4 mph. Devers was called out at first after a review but that didn’t matter much as the run scored.

Garrett Whitlock then let the Royals tie the game with an erratic start to his outing, which included a wild pitch, a walk and a Vinnie Pasquantino game-tying single. Whitlock then got two straight big strikeouts with the winning run on second and Brennan Bernardino induced a pop-up to send the game to the 12th.

3) Hunter Dobbins continues to pitch really well. His fourth big league start included six shutout innings in which he gave up just five hits and struck out six batters. The Red Sox probably could have gotten more out of him (he threw just 81 pitches) but Alex Cora is going to be careful with any rookie starter, let alone one who has had a very strange start to the season, bouncing back and forth between not just the majors and Triple-A, but also the rotation and bullpen.

Dobbins was the first Red Sox pitcher this season to go at least six scoreless innings with six strikeouts and no walks. The Sox had two such starts last year, both by Tanner Houck. Dobbins has a 2.78 ERA through four starts.

4) A poor offensive approach is often contagious in the big leagues and the Red Sox have surely been susceptible to that so far this season. In another rather lifeless night from the offense, the Sox had just six hits while striking out 10 times (and not walking once). Boston had just four plate appearances with runners in scoring position in the first nine innings.

Veteran Royals starter Michael Lorenzen actually outdueled Dobbins, going seven shutout innings. Fortunately for Boston, Kansas City’s offense couldn’t get much going, either.

5) The Royals lost a scoring chance to some catastrophic baserunning in the fifth. After Kyle Isbel hit a one-out triple, Jonathan India hit a chopper to third base and Isbel raced home on contact, allowing Trevor Story to throw him out at the plate. India then tried to take second… and was thrown out by Alex Bregman. Inning over.

6) Bregman made one of the great defensive plays of the season. To lead off the fourth, Pasquantino laced a chopper the other way and Bregman, playing in the shift, had to range way to his right to make the play. He unleashed a perfect throw to get the out.

7) Justin Slaten posted a 19.29 ERA in a three-outing stretch from April 30 to May 4 and was charged with three blown saves and a loss in that span. But he was big for the Red Sox in a four-out appearance Thursday and kept a scoreless game scoreless with a similar four-out showing Friday. With two men on, he got Salvador Perez to ground out to end the eighth, then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

8) The Kauffman Stadium crowd of 30,348 was the largest at the ballpark since Opening Day on a picture perfect weather evening in Kansas City. The game sped along (think seven innings in less than 90 minutes) then came to a grinding halt, especially in extras. It ended up coming in at 3 hours and 7 minutes.

9) For some reason, Dustin Pedroia (who lives in Arizona) was on hand, sitting in the stands with his kids.

10) Fans at Kauffman will be treated to a really good pitching matchup in the middle game of the series Saturday. The Red Sox will send Garrett Crochet (3-2, 2.02 ERA) to the mound with lefty Cole Ragans (2-1, 3.79 ERA) starting for the Royals. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. ET.