August 6, 2022 2:00 pm
Rookie catcher MJ Melendez homered and drove in six runs, and Brad Keller ended a three-start losing streak as the host Kansas City Royals defeated the Boston Red Sox 13-5 on Sunday.Melendez's three-run blast off Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford in the fifth inning broke open a two-run game.In the series, Melendez homered three times and drove in 10 runs as the Royals won three of four. The Red Sox have lost four of their past five games.Keller (6-12) worked six innings, allowing four hits and one run -- Rafael Devers' 24th homer of the season. Keller walked three and struck out four.Crawford (3-4) surrendered five runs, one on a balk, on five hits and two walks. He struck out four.In the fifth inning, Michael Massey walked for the Royals, and Nate Eaton doubled on a long fly ball to center that Jarren Duran allowed to drop just past him on the warning track, putting runners at second and third.Crawford got a strikeout, but Melendez's 13th homer of the season extended the Royals' lead to 5-0.Devers homered in the sixth, and Tommy Pham, who was batting just .150 in his first five games with Boston, hit a two-run homer in the seventh off Taylor Clarke to pull the Red Sox to 5-3.Kansas City added two insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh on back-to-back triples by Eaton and Kyle Isbel and Melendez's sacrifice fly.