Devers carries Red Sox past Royals
BOSTON — Rafael Devers had four hits and three RBIS to lead the Boston Red Sox past the Kansas City Royals 13-3 on Sunday.
Tommy Pham added three hits and three RBIS, and Kiké Hernández scored four times. Last-place Boston had dropped three of four and seven of 10 overall.
Xander Bogaerts, who can opt out of his contract with the Red Sox at the end of the season, added two hits with an RBI double, raising his average to .316. His double moved him into a tie with Dom Dimaggio (308) for ninth on Boston’s career list.
Bogaerts, who turns 30 on Oct. 1, also got his 1,400th hit, making him the fourth player with Boston to reach that total before turning 30.
“I didn’t know about it,” he said. “It’s special when you’re reaching stuff like that.”
He joined Hall of Famers Carl Yastrzemski, Bobby Doerr and Jim Rice.
“All three of them are much better players than me,” he said. “For me to be on that list is special. On a personal level, how far that I came since I played my first year in the Dominican Summer League . ... It’s crazy man. I still feel great, in good shape. Hopefully I can do it for a long time.”
Salvador Perez hit a solo homer for Kansas City. Vinnie Pasquantino and Drew Waters each had an RBI double.
Making a 30th start for the second straight year, Boston’s Nick Pivetta (10-11) gave up three runs in five innings.
“It’s what I’m built to do, it’s what I know how to do and what I expect of myself,” he said. “That’s what I train myself for in the offseason.”
Kris Bubic (2-13) lost his seventh straight start, giving up five runs in 2 ⅔ innings.
“Every game is going to rotate around the tempo our starters give us and the tone that they set,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “In the third, a couple of plays needed to be made behind him.”
Devers’ two-run single made it 7-3 in the fifth. Boston then blew it open with four runs in the sixth.
Boston had a season-high nine doubles after being held without an extra-base hit in consecutive games. It was the first time in 33 years that the Red Sox didn’t collect an extra-base hit in backto-back games in Fenway Park, the last also against Kansas City from April 22-23, 1989.
Red Sox RHP Nathan Eovaldi (right shoulder inflammation), who can become a free agent after the season, threw a simulated game off the Fenway mound. He hopes to start at least two more times, with both likely coming at home.