Garrett Crochet, Red Sox blow out Cole Ragans, Royals in 10-1 bonanza

Hours after the Boston Celtics rebounded from a frustrating loss two in fact with a - win over the New York Knicks the Red Sox did the same Whereas Friday night s series opener in Kansas City was a scoreless stalemate until the th Saturday was only a low-scoring affair for the home association The Red Sox blew out the Royals - snapping KC s seven-game win streak and handing them just their third loss in their last games The Boston bats had been woefully outmatched in their three previous meetings with Cole Ragans each time the Royals left-hander pitched at least innings struck out a minimum of seven issued no more than two walks and allowed no more than one earned run though the defense behind him yielded four unearned runs total in those games Last season the Royals won both of his starts against the Red Sox by at least four runs No such luck against the Red Sox on Saturday Ragans lasted just five innings and needed pitches to get through them He exited charged with four earned runs on seven hits two walks and eight strikeouts Oh my God that was big for us catcher Carlos Narv ez for HR BB described NESN s Jahmai Webster We had an aggressive plan on him He was executing the fastball inside and then changeup off of it He s a nasty pitcher he s gonna make good pitches but at the same time we need to get him into long counts to get him out before the fifth inning It was The Rafael Devers Show all night After plating the squad s lone run the night before the Sox slugger had his second four-hit championship of the season th of his career He collected the first knock of the match a one-out single in the opening frame which extended his hitting streak to three games and the hits just kept coming His th double of the season got Boston on the board in the first and he extended the lead to - with an RBI single in the fifth The American League s walks leader drew his th free pass of the season in the seventh and capped off his night with another RBI double in the eighth It was an especially impressive performance given the tumult of the last two days After Devers called out the front office during a postgame scrum in the Fenway clubhouse on Thursday principal owner John Henry company president Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow made an unscheduled trip to Kansas City on Friday for a chat with the Sox superstar Devers knows how to cancel the noise manager Alex Cora advised reporters Obviously the last limited days have been a lot to all of us but at the end of the day like he says All I know is to play baseball He loves playing the battle and at or or whatever he s ready to go ' Devers led the way but his was just one of the organization s five multi-hit performances in a -hit barrage Jarren Duran Alex Bregman and Ceddanne Rafaela had two hits apiece and Narv ez had a career-high three-hit battle with a two-run homer and a walk Trevor Story s struggles continued until they didn t After striking out in his first three at-bats and making an error on a routine play in the sixth the veteran shortstop who came into Saturday hitting with zero extra-base hits over his last games blasted a three-run homer to extend Boston s lead to - in the seventh His first extra-base hit since April snapped a drought of plate appearances It was also Boston s MLB-leading th three-run homer no other club is in the double digits and no AL band has more than seven The biggest difference though is that for the first time in years the Red Sox have an ace southpaw of their own Garrett Crochet outlasted Ragans his fellow All-Star by a full two innings In his fourth start of at least seven innings this season the Sox southpaw held the Royals to one earned run on seven hits one walk one balk and struck out nine on pitches strikes He allowed a new season-high in hits previously five but snapped his four-game streak of issuing multiple walks The bottom of the seventh was another reminder that isn t the Red Sox If any doubt remained that this is the ace Boston has been waiting for Crochet finished the seventh inning with a mph four-seamer to blow Bobby Witt Jr away and leave the diamond Royally flushed In his first two at-bats it kind of felt like I had nothing for him Crochet advised reporters At the end of the tournament it was kind of just like I m gonna live and die by my best pitch ' Punching out the Royals star was the ultimate exclamation point to cap off one of his best outings of the season and Crochet let his emotions show He roared triumphantly as he walked off the mound I mean bases loaded and one of the best hitters in the league at the plate I think that you want it pretty bad Crochet revealed Velocity has been an area of several concern for the Sox southpaw of late His four-seamer averaged mph last season but he entered the match averaging mph through his first eight starts The four-seamer averaged mph on Saturday with Narv ez telling Webster that Crochet even amped up late in the competition That was kind of impressive to me last inning for him I feel the fastball had way more life the catcher reported That s a good sign for us -plus pitches and still getting like mph and you feel the life on the heater so I think that was big for us Big out I know my velo s been down but at the same time it s no surprise it s who I am Crochet explained Sometimes to throw harder you just gotta throw harder and that s kind of the mentality that I walked into in the modern day with Crochet s four starts of at least seven innings are tied with Yankees Max Fried and Giants Logan Webb for the the bulk in the Majors His fourth couldn t have come at a better time for his crew which used seven relievers the night before Though Crochet stated he was just trying to be the best version and not put too much pressure on himself he admitted it s hard to ignore when there s such a glaring need for a deep start To be honest with you this day was very short in the bullpen manager Alex Cora explained reporters referring to the lengthy battle the night before We needed six seven innings After getting seven from Crochet Liam Hendriks and Brennan Bernardino pitched an inning apiece easily closing out the supremacy According to Stathead Crochet is the first Red Sox lefty to post an ERA of or better through his first nine starts of the season since Mel Parnell in He also joins Pedro Martinez as the only two pitchers to strike out at least batters and post a sub- ERA through their first nine starts with the club Crochet and Narv ez are also turning into quite a duo and the mutual affection and admiration was on display Saturday night He s a beast he s a beast Narv ez raved of the pitcher He makes my job way easier I feel like he s an artist back there Crochet declared The Red Sox are back in the win column once more now - on the season After a Mother s Day rubber match on Sunday p m ET they head straight to Detroit for three games before an off-day on Thursday Injury updates The Red Sox placed utility man Romy Gonzalez quad on the -day injured list before Saturday s battle and recalled Nick Sogard from Triple-A Rob Refsnyder is also dealing with back spasms but will avoid going on the injured list Cora disclosed Cora pushed Walker Buehler s ETA back The righty who went on the injured list last weekend with bursitis in his pitching shoulder is now expected to pitch in the New York Mets series during the upcoming home stand