Red Sox 7, Royals 1: Boston receives a mountain of gifts in the flat countryside of Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MAY 19: Maikel Garcia #11 of the Kansas City Royals is tagged out by Isiah Kiner-Falefa #2 of the Boston Red Sox as he tries to stretch a single in the fifth inning at Kauffman Stadium on May 19, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) | Getty Images Every once in a while, you get a night where you have to tip your cap to the opponent. It might stem from a stellar pitching performance, a buttoned down operation in all phases of the game, or a bunch of clutch hits piled together.

When you play 162 of these things, it’s going to happen a handful of times. But tonight, we got the exact opposite of a “tip you cap” game, or whatever else you want to call this monstrosity. Forget Christmas, the Red Sox were almost handed enough gifts in one evening to light all the Hanukkah candles.

In fact, the theme of the evening started before the first pitch was even thrown. Kansas City had to scratch their originally scheduled starter Kris Bubic with elbow soreness and replace him with Bailey Falter, who entered tonight with a 10. 13 ERA.

He’s been so bad that despite only lasting two innings and allowing seven of the twelve batters he faced to reach base in this one, he actually lowered his ERA to 9. 82. But the pitching matchup was only the beginning; the Red Sox were also the beneficiaries of this befuddling call in the first inning.