Andrew Cashner gave up six runs in just over five innings also giving up three homeruns on Tuesday night, as the Kansas City Royals ended their seven game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Andrew Benintendi gave Boston (60-56) their only lead of the night with an RBI single in the bottom of the third to make it 1-0. The Royals though took the lead they wouldn’t relinquish in the fourth when Hunter Dozier walked with two outs, and then Jorge Soler hit his first two run homer of the night to left. Kansas City (41-74) broke it open when Ryan O’Hearn hit a solo homer to right in the fifth. Dozier then singled in a run, and Soler hit another two run shot to left center both in the sixth inning to make it 6-1 to end the night for Cashner. The former Baltimore Orioles right hander drops to 1-4 as a member of the Red Sox. Christian Vazquez doubled in a run in the bottom of the eighth to end the scoring.
Cashner (10-7) had a final line of 5.1 innings allowing six runs on seven hits, with two walks and four strikeouts. Josh Taylor, Marcus Walden, and Darwinzon Hernandez did shut down the Royals offense from the sixth inning on throwing 3.2 of hitless and scoreless baseball. JD Martinez and Vazquez each had two hits in the loss. Soler was the offensive star of the game with two hits that were both homeruns and four RBI. He now has 31 homeruns this season. Whit Merrifield also added two hits for KC, who wins for the first time since July 28th. Jakob Junis (7-10) allowed just one run on seven hits in 6.0 innings to earn the win on the mound. The Red Sox are now 1-9 in their last 10 games, and fall to a very disappointing 28-30 at Fenway.
Boston will look for the series win in the rubber game of the three game series at 7:10 p.m. Wednesday night. Eduardo Rodriguez goes for his 14th win of the season for the Red Sox, while Glenn Sparkman starts for the Royals.
Boston catcher Christian Vazquez rounds the bases after hitting a homerun earlier this year at Fenway Park. Vazquez, who is having a career year at the plate, had two more hits on Tuesday night in a loss to the KC Royals. Photo courtesy of Delaney Gardner
