After a pair of winning weeks in a row, the Kansas City Royals went just 2-4 this past week losing three out of four at the Boston Red Sox and splitting another two-game set at home in the I-70 Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Kansas City fell in the series opener against Boston 6-2 with the Red Sox scoring the first two runs of the game. In the third inning, they got a sac fly, followed by an RBI from Connor Wong in the fifth.

Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. got a pair of RBI base hits with two outs in the seventh to tie the game up 2-2.

In the bottom of the ninth, controversy ensued as a check swing on a full count was ruled a ball which loaded the bases. It was a close call that could have gone either way, but manager Matt Quatraro was ejected after arguing with the first base umpire, who made the call.

Following that, Pablo Reyes hit a walk-off grand slam off the left field foul poll to win the ballgame.

The Royals became the first opposing team in Fenway Park history to hit three home runs and steal six bags in their 9-3 win on Tuesday.

Drew Waters, MJ Melendez and Michael Massey all went deep in the victory, and starting pitcher Brady Singer had another solid outing.

He went 6.2 innings and gave up five hits, three earned runs and two walks with four strikeouts. With the win, Singer improved his record to 8-8 and gotten his ERA down to 5.05. He is 4-1 in his seven starts since the start of July.

The Royals got another home run by Melendez in the second inning of their 4-3 loss on Wednesday, followed by his second homer of the day in the fourth inning.

With the Red Sox trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth, Alex Verdugo hit a two-RBI double to take the lead. Reese McGuire added another run later in the inning to go up 4-2.

Kansas City tried to get a rally going, but the Red Sox bullpen was too consistent, although Freddy Fremin did hit a solo shot to bring them within a run in the ninth.

The Royals’ offense went ice-cold on Thursday as they lost 2-0. It was their 13th shutout of the 2023 MLB season. Kansas City had seven hits but struck out a total of 12 times. Boston had three different relievers pitch one inning with all of them getting two strikeouts apiece.

It appeared as if they were saving all their offense for their 12-8 win at home against the Cardinals. Adam Wainwright looked downright atrocious in his one inning as he gave up nine hits and eight runs including a couple of home runs to Witt Jr. and Nelson Velazquez.

They would jump out to a 9-0 lead in the first two innings, but St. Louis fought back. They would score six runs in the third through sixth innings to cut the deficit to three, but the Royals added three more in the seventh and eighth innings to pull away.

Kansas City had a chance to seal a I-70 Series season victory outright on Saturday, but their comeback fell just short by a final score of 5-4.

St. Louis would get the scoring started in the second inning with a Tommy Edman homer, followed by a Nolan Arenado RBI double in the third to make it 3-0. Velazquez went deep again with a two-run bomb in the third inning, but the Cardinals responded with an RBI single by Wilson Contreras in the fifth.

After Edman hit his second long ball of the game to go up 5-2 in the top of the eighth, it felt like it was over. However, the Royals fought to make it a game again with Kyle Isbel getting an RBI single in the bottom of the inning.

Matt Duffy kept their hopes alive with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth with one out to cut their deficit to one run. However, JoJo Romero remained composed and completed a 1.2 inning save to even the I-70 Series this season at two wins apiece.

Kansas City’s mid-week test this week will be a tough one at home against the Seattle Mariners (63-54), who are 1.5 games back of the final wild card spot going into the series and having won eight out of their last ten contests.

They follow that up with a series in the Windy City at Wrigley Field against the Cubs, who are also fighting for a wild card spot at just a half-game out. Not only that, but they are tied for second place with the Cincinnati Reds at 3.5 games back of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central Division race.

As for the Royals, they are playing for moral victories, some semblance of hope, and trying not to be the worst team in franchise history.