It was an unusually poor evening of pitching for the Kansas City Royals, as the Boston Red Sox handed the Royals a 10-1 defeat Saturday, May 10 at Kauffman Stadium.

Rafael Devers doubled in the game’s first run in the top of the third with a line drive to left field. The Royals responded with Mark Canha’s bloop single to center field, scoring Bobby Witt Jr. The Red Sox took control in the fifth inning, when Devers joined Jarren Duran and Alex Bregman all claimed RBI singles off Cole Ragans. Boston then put the game out of reach after Trevor Story belted a three-run home run off Angel Zerpa in the seventh, and Carlos Narváez added a two-run blast in the eighth with no outs. Devers brought in the final run later in the eighth.

Ragans lasted five innings in the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits with two walks, while striking out eight. Garret Crochet picked up the win for Boston, striking out nine in his seven innings of work, allowing the lone Royals run on seven hits.

Boston went five-for-11 with runners in scoring position, and claimed four RBIs with two outs. Five of their 15 hits were for extra bases. By comparison, the Royals went just two-for-nine with runners in scoring position, and Witt was the only Royal with a double.

The Royals are now 24-17, remaining two-and-a-half games behind Detroit for the AL Central lead. They go for the series win Sunday afternoon when Seth Lugo takes the mound. Pregame is at 12:30, with first pitch at 1:10 p.m., on KMMO AM 1300.