Dominic Smith scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the sixth inning after a call was overturned on a challenge, helping the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 6-5 on Tuesday night.
Smith doubled to start the sixth inning and advanced to third on a single by Eric Sogard. After David Hamilton struck out, Smith raced home on a pitch from KC’s Seth Lugo, who bounced in front of the plate and got past catcher Salvador Perez.
Perez chased the ball to the backstop and threw it to Lugo, who seemed to tag Smith for what appeared to be an out. The Red Sox challenged the call, which was overturned after review.
“Dom (Smith) wasn’t too sure,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “Mikey (Brenly, the Red Sox’s replay coordinator) right away said, ‘Challenge it. He got in.’” Smith described his dive toward the plate as a “freestyle” when asked what technique he used.
“I tried to make a move,” Smith said. “I wasn’t sure when (Royals pitcher Seth Lugo) tagged me, but when I saw (manager Alex Cora) go for the challenge, I felt good about it.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of our speedy guys (use the swim move) all year. My slide is a little bit slower than other people’s, so I might have a little more time to make a move.”
Later in the inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, Yoshida hit a single through the right side, driving in two more runs.
The Red Sox have won the first two games of this three-game series and are now just half a game behind the Royals for the third American League wild-card spot.
Brennan Bernadino (4-3) pitched a third of an inning and got the win in relief. Kenley Jansen earned his 21st save by striking out Bobby Witt Jr., the MLB leader in hits and batting average, to end the game.
“That’s the best I’ve seen the big boy, especially in that last at bat,” Cora said about Jansen. “It was cutter, sinker, cutter. The velocity, the movement, to have him rested was very important.”
Lugo (13-6) allowed six runs, four earned, on six hits in 5 1/3 innings and took the loss.
“Another competitive outing,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “His command was a little bit off, I think. He was maybe trying to be a little too fine. We were looking up there in the sixth and we were right in the game.”
Lugo agreed that overturning the call was the right decision. “I could tell that I didn’t get his arm and his hand got the plate,” Lugo said. “I was hoping they didn’t have a good enough video to show that.”
Boston had a 6-3 lead going into the bottom of the eighth inning when the Royals’ MJ Melendez hit a two-run double to the wall, scoring Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez and narrowing the gap to one run.
Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. hit a one-out double in the first inning, and Pasquantino followed with an RBI single through the right side of the infield.
The Red Sox responded with two unearned runs in the second inning. Connor Wong singled, and Smith hit a grounder to second that Michael Massey failed to field.
With one out, David Hamilton’s grounder bounced over the wall, scoring Wong. Smith later scored on a groundout by Ceddanne Rafaela. Masataka Yoshida hit a home run with one out in the third inning to extend Boston’s lead to 3-1.
The Royals tied the game in the fifth inning with three consecutive two-out hits. Massey hit a 434-foot home run to right center. Witt followed with a bloop single and then scored on a double by Pasquantino.
