Renfroe homers twice, Red Sox rally to beat Royals 6-5

BOSTON (AP) — Red Sox starter Garrett Richards was willing to try anything to make up for the pitching prowess he’s lost since baseball’s crackdown on grip-enhancing substances.

He dunked his arm in ice to keep it from sweating. He learned a changeup in four days. His curveball dipped to 63 mph.

“I’ve never had to make this kind of change in my whole career. I’m just trying to make the best of it,” he said on Monday night after recovering from a rough start to keep the Red Sox in the game.

“Trying to work around the new rules,” he said. “That’s what was asked of us to do, so that’s what I was trying to do.”

Hunter Renfroe homered twice, the second a 434-foot solo shot over the Green Monster to break a sixth-inning tie, and the Red Sox rallied from a four-run deficit to beat Kansas City 6-5.

Richards gave up three home runs before recording his fifth out, but he then held the Royals scoreless until leaving with two outs in the sixth. And the Red Sox batters pounded out four home runs of their own.

“The ball was flying today. They put some good swings. But he kept competing,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “It didn’t look great in the beginning, but he didn’t quit. He put zeros at the end and he gave us a chance.”

Kiké Hernández led off the bottom of the first with a home run for the second straight game, Bobby Dalbec also homered and Renfroe had a two-run shot in the fourth as Boston came back after falling behind 5-1.

The score was 5-5 in the sixth when Renfroe’s second homer, off Josh Staumont (0-2), banged off a billboard above Lansdowne Street. It was Renfroe’s 13th career multihomer game; his last was with the Rays last year at Fenway Park.

“We knew it was early, and we had a lot of game left,” Renfroe said. “We...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Renfroe-homers-twice-Red-Sox-rally-to-beat-16280492.php