Devers leads Red Sox to rout of Royals

*Photo from the Kennebec Journal*

   Looking for a series win, the Beantown offense burst out. Xander Bogaerts made history, Rafael Devers drove in a trio of runs, and the Boston Red Sox routed the Kansas City Royals with a 13-3 victory on Sunday afternoon in Boston.

   With the rout, the Red Sox took two out of 3 from the Royals, winning the series in their last weekend home series. Devers led the way with 4 hits and 3 RBI's. Bogaerts recorded his 1,400th career hit in the first inning, becoming the 4th Red Sox player to do so before turning 30 years old.

   Bogaerts said of the milestone that "It’s special, you know, when you reach stuff like that. Most of the time I don’t know about stuff until someone comes up and tells me about it. But it felt good. Especially winning."

   The first inning ended in a 1-1 tie, with Vinnie Pasquantino hitting an RBI double for the Royals, and Bogaerts with an RBI double for the Red Sox. In the second inning, Drew Waters hit an RBI double, and Tommy Pham hit a sac fly, making it a 2-2 game. In the 3rd inning, sac flies from Rob Refsnyder and Christian Arroyo, followed by an RBI single from Reese McGuire, making it a 5-2 score.

   In the 5th, Salvador Perez hit a solo home run, and Devers hit a two run single in the bottom of the 5th, making the Red Sox lead 7-3. In the 6th, Pham and Kike Hernandez hit RBI singles, and McGuire and Yu Chang hit RBI doubles, making it an 11-3 game. An RBI double from Pham and an RBI single from Devers in the 8th made it a 13-3 score.

   Red Sox manager Alex Cora talked about Bogaerts's hot streak, saying that "Just, all around, the last few weeks have been impressive. Driving the ball, taking what they give him, being more selective in certain counts. Obviously we love the fact that he plays every day. The way he goes about it. I always said, he’s the most consistent person in this organization. It’s fun to watch, and be ready for Tuesday."

   Nick Pivetta got the start for the Red Sox, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and two walks in 5 innings, getting the win. After that, a bullpen combination of Kaleb Ort, John Schreiber, Matt Strahm, and Matt Barnes each worked a scoreless inning to seal up the win.

   Starting opposite Pivetta was Kris Bubic for the Royals. Bubic got rocked for 5 runs on 7 hits over just 2 2/3 innings. Jose Cuas pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, followed by Carlos Hernandez, Anthony Misiewicz, Collin Snider, and Luke Weaver.

   Royals manager Mike Matheny weighed in on Bubic's start, saying that "Every game is going to rotate around the tempo our starters give us and the tone that they set. In the third, a couple of plays needed to be made behind him."

   Up next, the Red Sox travel to face the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, with Brayan Bello getting the start. The Royals welcome the Minnesota Twins to town on Tuesday night, with Zack Greinke starting the series opener.