Fermin hits a 12th-inning single to give Royals 2-1 win over Red Sox, 16th win in last 18 games

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Freddy Fermin hit a line drive RBI single into left center in the bottom of the 12th inning to give the Kansas City Royals a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.

Steven Cruz (1-0) pitched the 12th for his first major league win as the Royals won their seventh consecutve game and for the 16th time in their last 18 games.

Sean Newcombe (0-4), the eighth Red Sox pitcher of the game, took the loss.

Each team scored a run in the 11th after 10 scoreless innings.

Both starting pitchers cruised.

Kansas City's Michael Lorenzen gave up just three hits through seven innings, striking out seven and walking none. He was helped by his defense, including a diving stab of a line drive by first baseman Salvador Perez in the fourth.

Hunter Dobbins didn't allow a run in six innings for Boston, though he did have to work around trouble a couple of times. He gave up two hits in the fourth inning and a one-out triple in the fifth.

Devers, who created a firestorm Thursday when he said he wouldn’t play first base, prompting Red Sox brass to fly to Kansas City to defuse the situation, was 1 for 5 with an RBI.

In the fifth inning, Kyle Isbel ripped a one-out triple to right center. With the infield drawn in, Jonathan India hit a slow roller to short. Isbel broke for home and was tagged out in a rundown that ended up in a 6-2-5-4 double play.

Lorenzen became the third straight starter for the Royals to pitch seven scoreless innings.

The Red Sox will send LHP Garrett Crochet (3-2, 2.02 ERA) to the mound to face Kansas City LHP Cole Ragans (2-1, 3.79) in the second game of the three-game series on Saturday. ___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb