Kansas City’s MJ Melendez (left) celebrates with Kyle Isbel after hitting a home run against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night. The Royals won 6-1. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
BOSTON – Bobby Witt Jr. and MJ Melendez each hit a solo home run, Cole Ragans allowed a run in seven innings and the Kansas City Royals beat the Boston Red Sox 6-1 on Friday night for their fourth straight victory.
Adam Frazier, Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez all had RBIs for Kansas City, which opened the three-game series one game behind Boston for the AL’s final wild-card spot.
It was the 16th home run of the season for Witt, an All-Star who will participate in the Home Run Derby on Monday.
Ragans (6-6) struck out seven times and allowed four hits to earn his first win since June 24 in Miami.
Ceddanne Rafaela had an RBI double for the Red Sox.
Cooper Criswell (3-4) threw a career-high 104 pitches in six innings and allowed eight hits and five runs, but only two of them – including Witt’s home run – were earned.
The Royals opened the game with three consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs, then took a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by Perez. But Criswell got Michael Massey out of the inning with a groundout and Hunter Renfroe with a flyout.
Criswell’s happiness did not last long.
In the second inning, Kansas City took advantage of a fielding error by first baseman Romy Gonzalez and a walk-and-hit batter by Criswell to score three unearned runs and extend the lead to 4-0.
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