Manager Alex Cora brought in left-handed reliever Darwinzon Hernandez to pitch the seventh inning with the game tied 3-3.
Four batters into Hernandez’s outing, the Red Sox were down 7-3.
Hernandez allowed a leadoff walk to Nicky Lopez, a single to MJ Melendez, an RBI single to Bobby Witt Jr. and a three-run homer to Salvador Perez.
Boston lost 7-3 to the Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday.
Perez’s line drive home run left his bat at 110.4 mph and went 346 feet off a green pad near the left field foul pole.
The crew chief reviewed and the call on the field stood. Cora argued and got ejected by home plate umpire Bill Welke.
Boston jumped ahead early
The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in the first inning after Jaylin Davis walked to lead off the game and Tommy Pham doubled.
Rafael Devers knocked both Davis and Pham home with a single to left field.
But the Royals tied it 2-2 immediately in the bottom of the first vs. Nick Pivetta.
Pivetta pitched 5 innings, allowing three runs, seven hits and one walk while striking out five.
Barnes returns
Matt Barnes, who the Red Sox reinstated from the 60-day IL (right shoulder inflammation) before the game, pitched a perfect sixth inning. He got two groundouts and a flyout.
Barnes threw nine pitches: four curveballs, two sliders, two two-seam fastballs (96 mph, 95.4 mph) and one four-seam fastball (95.3 mph).
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