Devers breaks seat with HR in Red Sox's victory
BOSTON — Rafael Devers hit a two-run homer that broke a seat deep in right field at Fenway Park, Dominic Smith also had a two-run shot and the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 5-4 on Sunday to take the series.
The Red Sox won their second straight after losing the opener. Boston improved to a major-league-best 9-3 in July and is 20-8 since June 12.
All-Star Devers sent a first-inning slider from Brady Singer (5-6) a projected 439 feet (with an estimated exit velocity of 114.7 mph), crashing into the top of a seat and loosening up the top support. The Red Sox posted a “Fenway Facilities Incident Report” that had a picture of the broken red seat on their social media sites.
Fenway Facilities Incident Report: pic.twitter.com/oxvCPPswb2
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 14, 2024
“The kid is locked in,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Devers, who opted out of going to the All-Star Game to rest a nagging shoulder. “Just take care of him this week. He’s not going to Texas for a good reason, right. He wants to be ready for the second part, getting treatment during the week and keeping healthy.”
When told the homer broke a seat, Cora joked that someone would need to tell owner John Henry, saying: “It did? You’ve got to tell John.”
Adam Frazier opened the game with a homer into the Royals’ bullpen and All-Star Salvador Perez, who was selected for his ninth Midsummer Classic, added a solo shot into the Green Monster seats for Kansas City.
First-time All-Star Jarren Duran had four hits for the Red Sox, who improved to a majors’ best 15-1 on Sundays. Boston enters the All-Star break 4½ games out of first in the AL East after finishing in the basement three of the past four years.
“Today was just a good overall team win,” Duran said. “I’ve been saying it a lot this year. We’re keeping it rolling and I love it.”
Brayan Bello (10-5) overcame his struggles at home, going 6⅓ innings, allowing three runs and seven hits. He had posted a 6.55 ERA in his seven starts in Fenway.
Kenley Jansen got the final six outs, striking out three, for his 19th save, the 439th of his career. He gave up a run in the ninth but got Nick Loftin to ground out with a runner on second to end it.
Smith’s shot went an estimated 431 feet, traveling over Boston’s bullpen to make it 4-1 in the second. He added a key RBI single that made it 5-3 in the seventh.
Singer had allowed just one run in each of his previous four starts but was tagged for four runs and eight hits in 2⅔ innings.
The Royals go into the break with 52 victories, three shy of the most before the All-Star Game in team history behind the 1973 club.
“I could care less what last year’s record was at this point,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “This is a new team. This is a bunch of guys that’s fighting their butts off to compete in a playoff race and that’s what’s exciting.”
