{"id":54706,"date":"2025-05-12T10:51:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T10:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54706"},"modified":"2025-05-12T10:51:49","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T10:51:49","slug":"lucas-giolitos-gem-rafael-devers-440-ft-hr-power-red-sox-past-royals-3-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54706","title":{"rendered":"Lucas Giolito\u2019s gem, Rafael Devers\u2019 440-ft HR power Red Sox past Royals 3-1"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Taking their biggest test of the season in this weekend\u2019s road series with the Kansas City Royals, the Red Sox passed with flying colors.<\/p>\n

The Royals came into Saturday on a seven-game winning streak, with only two losses in their previous 18 games, and without back-to-back losses since April 19, but it was the Red Sox who took the series, two games to one. After losing the opener 2-1 in the 12th inning, Boston rebounded with a 10-1 victory on Saturday and 3-1 clincher on Sunday.<\/p>\n

A pair of top-four \u201824 AL Cy Young finalists, Cole Ragans (fourth) and Seth Lugo (second), started for the Royals in the second and third games, but they were out-pitched by three newcomers to Boston\u2019s rotation. Rookie Hunter Dobbins, ace southpaw Garrett Crochet, and the recently-returned Lucas Giolito combined for 19.2 innings \u2013 at least six apiece \u2013 and just one earned run.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pitching staff as a whole, they were amazing,\u201d lauded manager Alex Cora.<\/p>\n

With the exception of his former home field on Chicago\u2019s South Side, Giolito has spent more time on the Kauffman Stadium mound than at any other ballpark. The Red Sox right-hander entered Sunday\u2019s series finale with a 2.97 ERA over 13 career starts (78.2 innings) in Kansas City, making it the perfect place for him to rebound from his last start, a 3.2-inning struggle he\u2019d described as a \u201cstep back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, in his longest start since Sept. 15, 2023, Giolito held the Royals to one unearned run on two hits, one walk, and struck out five over 6.2 innings. His velocity topped out at 96.1 mph, and he induced 10 swings-and-misses among his 88 pitches (59 for strikes).<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter mix, better command, fastball was a little bit harder, 93, 94 mph, but I think it was the mix of the pitches,\u201d Cora said of his starter. \u201cThe last two days we were banged up in the bullpen. What you saw is probably what we had, and both of them, Crochet and Gio, gave us more than enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from a long third inning, Giolito breezed through the afternoon. He opened with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings. When the Royals sent six men to the plate in the third, the Sox starter managed to limit the damage. Drew Waters led off with a single, Luke Maile followed with a walk, and Kyle Isbel\u2019s sacrifice bunt gave the Royals a 1-0 lead when Giolito made a throwing error.<\/p>\n

Undeterred, Giolito got the next three batters in order to strand runners on the corners. After the miscue, he retired seven batters before giving up a single to Maile and promptly erasing it by getting Isbel to ground into an inning-ending double play. All told, he set the Royals down 1-2-3 in five of his six full innings, and recorded the first two outs of the seventh before Justin Wilson got Mark Canha to line out on the first pitch to complete yet another orderly frame.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to work, we made adjustments with the slider,\u201d Giolito told reporters, making sure to credit his coaches and catcher Carlos Narv\u00e1ez, who\u2019s quickly become integral to the pitching staff\u2019s success. \u201cNarvy was fantastic behind the plate again.\u201d<\/p>\n

After knocking Ragans around for five innings on Saturday, the Boston bats didn\u2019t make it easy for Lugo, either. The \u201924 Cy Young runner-up lasted six innings, but allowed three earned runs on six hits, including Wilyer Abreu\u2019s game-tying solo home run, and Rafael Devers\u2019 go-ahead two-run shot in the sixth.<\/p>\n

One of two players without a knock in Saturday\u2019s 15-hit Boston bonanza, Abreu was Boston\u2019s most productive bat in Sunday\u2019s series finale. He snapped an 0 for 13 skid with a leadoff single in the second, tied the game with his 10th home run in the fourth \u2013 a 430-footer, tying the second-furthest hits of his career \u2013 and made it a three-hit day with another leadoff single in the ninth.<\/p>\n

Each of Abreu\u2019s first two hits, as well as Trevor Story\u2019s third-inning single, came with two strikes. The Red Sox entered the contest with 148 two-strike hits, tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for most in the majors.<\/p>\n

The biggest hit, however, belonged to Boston\u2019s blaster. WIth Jarren Duran on first with a one-out single in the sixth, Devers crushed Lugo\u2019s first pitch, a 91.8 mph four-seamer. Hurtling 440 feet to dead-center at 110.4 mph, it may have been the Red Sox\u2019s furthest hit of the season, but it was still only tied for 19th in Devers\u2019 career. (467 feet on June 25, 2024 vs. Blue Jays\u2019 Kevin Gausman.)<\/p>\n

\u201cJust another day,\u201d Cora said of Devers\u2019 latest powerful performance. \u201cHe\u2019s swinging the bat well, he\u2019s in a good spot, just seeing the ball well, executing his game plan, which is very important, and that ball was demolished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the three-game series, Devers hit .583 with a 1.560 OPS, seven hits, six RBI, two walks, a double, and a home run. He has three multi-hit performances in his last four games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s probably the best DH in the American League right now,\u201d Cora said.<\/p>\n

The Red Sox out-hit the Royals 8-4. Wilson, Greg Weissert, and Aroldis Chapman ensured Giolito\u2019s gem would be rewarded with his first win of the year.<\/p>\n

Facing Chapman, a former Royal, in the ninth, the home team looked poised for a rally, but only briefly. Vinnie Pasquantino reached on a fielding error by second baseman David Hamilton, and Salvador Perez singled to put runners on first and second with one out. With help from his defense, Chapman recovered; Maikel Garcia lined out sharply to left, where Duran made a tremendous grab, and newly-recalled, newly-minted first baseman Nick Sogard caught Canha\u2019s pop-up in foul territory to bring the series to an end.<\/p>\n

Too often over the last few years, the Red Sox have struggled to dispatch bad teams. (Last year\u2019s 2-2 series split with the 121-loss White Sox comes to mind.) This weekend, however, they more than held their own against what could very well be a postseason opponent.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s exactly the kind of confidence-building weekend the Red Sox need as they head to Detroit for their next big test: three games against the white-hot Tigers, with\u00a0reigning Cy Young, Tarik Skubal on the mound Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Originally Published:

Taking their biggest test of the season in this weekend\u2019s road series with the Kansas City Royals, the Red Sox passed with flying colors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":54707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nLucas Giolito\u2019s gem, Rafael Devers\u2019 440-ft HR power Red Sox past Royals 3-1 - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54706\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lucas Giolito\u2019s gem, Rafael Devers\u2019 440-ft HR power Red Sox past Royals 3-1 - 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