Michael Wacha tossed six solid innings and the Kansas City Royals offense racked up 12 hits in a 7-3 win over the Boston Red Sox tonight at Fenway Park.

The Royals managed a couple baserunners in the first but couldn’t bring anybody home. Boston did not have the courtesy to do the same. Alex Bregman smacked a single just past a diving Bobby Witt Jr. and Jarren Duran grounded one by Vinnie Pasquantino to give the Red Sox runners on the corners with two outs. Romy Gonzalez then got a fat changeup from Michael Wacha and didn’t miss it, smacking it high off the monster in left to score both runners. Wacha retired the next batter to end the first inning, but Boston led 2-0.

The Royals got on the board in the third. Mike Yastrzemski lead off the inning by ripping a ball that hopped over the short wall in right field for a double. Witt then whacked the first pitch he saw from Dustin May into left field, easily scoring Yastrzemski. He swiped second base as Pasquantino took ball two. He would groundout to advance Witt to third. With Maikel Garcia coming up, the Red Sox brought the infield in. The gambit paid off as Garcia got ahead 3-1 but grounded out for the second out, with Witt staying at third. Salvador Perez struck out on a sweeper in the dirt to end the inning.

Kansas City rallied again in the fourth. Adam Frazier led off the inning by getting plunked but took off early from first base and got thrown out. Jonathan India followed with a hard single and John Rave hit a soft single allowed India to advance to third. Duran threw the ball into third, allowing Rave to move up to second. With two runners in scoring position, Kyle Isbel came through. He followed Rave’s lead with a soft liner that scored both runners, giving the Royals a 3-2 lead. After Yastrzemski popped out, May clipped Witt with an inside sinker. At that point, Alex Cora had seen enough and headed to the mound to relieve his beleaguered starter. Chris Murphy was summoned and struck out Pasquantino to end the inning.

Murphy led off the fifth inning by plunking India and Rave, each on the first pitch. They were Kansas City’s third and fourth hit batsmen in the past two innings. Murphy then threw two pitches to Isbel that were nowhere close to the zone, shouting “FUCK!” loudly enough to get picked up on the broadcast audio and prompting a visit from Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey. Isbel worked the count full but tried to lay down a bunt for some reason, poking the ball foul down the third base line and walking back to the dugout. Randal Grichuk was summoned to pinch hit and he crushed the first pitch he saw to deep center field. Duran ran it down and made the catch, forcing India and Rave to retreat after each had taken off. But the cutoff man threw ball away, allowing the two runners to move up. With an open base, the Red Sox intentionally walked Witt. Once again, their gambit worked as Pasquantino grounded out to end the inning with the score still 3-2.

On the other side, after the first inning nobody in Boston’s lineup save Gonzalez was able to square up Wacha, who retired 89% of the order between doubles from Gonzalez. Nobody else was even making hard contact until Roman Anthony smoked a ball high towards the right field corner. It would have cleared the fence in any ballpark except Fenway as Yastrzemski hauled it in to end the fifth inning. Trevor Story notched a single with one out in the sixth but was promptly erased on a slick 3-6-3 double play.

In the seventh, Kansas City broke the game open. Perez hit a solid single to lead off the frame and Frazier followed with a bouncer that got through the left side. India then got up 2-0 before watching a middle-middle fastball from Jordan Hicks go by for strike one. The next pitch was a hanging slider and India pulled the trigger. He didn’t get quite all of it but got just enough to knock it atop the monster for a homer that put the Royals ahead 6-2.

Wacha needed just 74 pitches to get through six innings, but Matt Quatraro opted to go to the bullpen for the seventh. Hunter Harvey was the first man up. He battled his command, and Frazier booted a potential double-play ball, but Harvey managed to get through the inning without allowing a run. In the next inning, Boston pitching plunked their fifth batter since the fourth inning, which I feel like would typically prompt a warning, but what do I know? Tyler Tolbert would pinch-run for that hitter batter, steal second and third bases, and score on a Pasquantino single to make it 7-2.

It was Lucas Erceg’s turn for the eighth. He allowed a leadoff single before retiring the next two batters, then nearly had Story struck out but allowed a single that brought home a run. He would put away the next batter 5-3 to keep Kansas City ahead 7-3. Carlos Estévez came in for a non-save situation in the ninth. He struck out the first two batters and retired the last 1-3 to end the game.

The win improves Kansas City to 57-58 and averts a series sweep. They will get the day off tomorrow before beginning a series this weekend in Minnesota against the Twins.

Michael Wacha: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 0 HR

Dustin May: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 0 HR

Jonathan India: 2-4, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI

Romy Gonzalez: 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI