Red Sox turn late pressure into a 5-1 win over the Royals

The Red Sox turned a one-run game into a runaway Saturday night, beating Kansas City 5-1 at Fenway Park behind a four-run finish and nine hits. Boston struck first in the fourth when Adley Rutschman brought home Anthony. The Royals answered in the sixth on Carter Jensen's solo homer, but the tie did not last. Wilyer Abreu's double scored Rutschman and Mickey Gasper, restoring Boston's lead and putting the middle of the order back in control. Caleb Durbin added insurance in the seventh with a run-scoring single. Nick Sogard's eighth-inning double brought Trevor Story home for the final run, and the Red Sox closed out a 5-1 win without an error. Kansas City managed five hits but left nine runners on base and struck out 11 times. Jensen's homer was the only damage the Royals could turn into a run; Boston's pitching kept the rest of those opportunities from changing the game. The win gives Boston the series edge heading into Sunday's finale. The score was 5-1, but the more useful number for the Red Sox was four: the runs they piled up after Kansas City briefly pulled even.