KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Instant reactions as the Red Sox (22-20) leave Kansas City with a big series win after homers from Rafael Devers and Wilyer Abreu power a 3-1 win in Sunday’s series finale:
1) We wrote last night about Devers doing the talking with his bat this weekend. He continued doing so in loud fashion in the sixth inning Sunday. His tie-breaking, 440-foot blast to dead center off starter Seth Lugo was the longest homer by a Red Sox hitter this season — and a no-doubter. It was Devers’ seventh homer of 2025.
In the three-game, set Devers posted an outstanding slash line. He was 7-for-12 (.583) with six RBIs, two walks, a double, a homer, a .643 on-base percentage and 1.560 OPS.
2) Alex Cora said before the game, somewhat wistfully, that Lucas Giolito would bounce back from a tough start against the Rangers and give the Red Sox six innings. He did that and more. Five days after being shelled for six runs and 10 hits, Giolito looked like the prime version of himself in the finale.
The righty, making his third start of 2025, went 6 ⅔ innings, allowing a single run (unearned) and just two Royals hits. He struck out five and issued a walk. The only blemish came in the third when Drew Waters scored on a throwing error by Giolito himself.
Giolito abandoned his breaking ball in the last outing but threw 28 of them Sunday.
3) Devers wasn’t the only Red Sox hitter with a big blast. Wilyer Abreu got his club on the board with a 430-foot bomb off Lugo in the fourth, which at the time, was the second-longest by a Boston batter so far. It was Abreu’s second homer in three days at Kauffman Stadium.
4) Red Sox pitchers have allowed just four runs over the last four games (39 innings). That’s a recipe for success. Boston’s staff hadn’t held opponents to four or fewer runs in a four-game span since June 2022.
5) It was a bit of a different late-game bullpen mix for Alex Cora in the finale. Lefty Justin Wilson was tasked with retiring the final batter in the seventh, then became the setup-man-for-the-day despite switch-hitter Drew Waters and the right-handed Luke Maile due up in the eighth.
Wilson got three outs on 12 pitches before Kyle Isbel singled. Greg Weissert then got Jonathan India to pop out to end the inning and Aroldis Chapman entered for the ninth.
6) It was not a smooth bottom of the ninth for Boston. Chapman got superstar Bobby Witt Jr. for the first out, but Vinnie Pasquantino reached on a David Hamilton fielding error and Salvador Perez singled to put the tying run on base. Chapman then got a rocket line-out (Maikel Garcia) and a pop-up (Mark Canha) to end things.
7) It feels like the Red Sox have had more meaningful series losses than big series wins so far this year. Count this among the best in that latter category. Friday was an eventful day that included John Henry’s meeting with Devers and a tough, 2-1 loss in 12 innings. But the Red Sox bounced back from that with two straight wins — and two well-pitched ones — against a team that entered the set as the hottest in baseball, by far. Consider this: Kansas City was 16-5 at home before the last two games.
8) The Red Sox will travel Sunday night to Detroit, where the best team in the American League awaits for a three-game series. Boston will face a tough test Wednesday when reigning American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal pitches for the Tigers.
Here’s the series schedule (with pitching probables):
Monday, 6:40 p.m. ET — RHP Tanner Houck (0-2, 6.10 ERA) vs. RHP Jackson Jobe (2-0, 4.88 ERA)
Tuesday, 6:40 p.m. ET — RHP Brayan Bello (2-0, 2.01 ERA) vs. TBD
Wednesday, 6:40 p.m. ET — RHP Hunter Dobbins (2-1, 2.78 ERA) vs. LHP Tarik Skubal (4-2, 2.08 ERA)
