Red Sox first baseman Michael Chavis gestures to fans as rain falls during the fifth inning Wednesday against the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park in Boston. The Red Sox beat the Royals, 6-2, in a game that was scheduled to start at 7:10 p.m. and finished after midnight. Elise Amendola/Associated Press
BOSTON — J.D. Martinez and Hunter Renfroe homered, Martin Perez pitched two-run ball into the sixth inning and the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 6-2 Wednesday night in a game twice delayed by poor weather.
First pitch was pushed back 41 minutes and umpires stopped play for 1 hour, 56 minutes in the middle of the sixth, but the teams managed to play nine innings.
Perez (6-4) allowed two runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings, striking out two. He allowed a homer to Salvador Pérez leading off the second. Pérez’s homer came during a 4-for-4 night.
Mike Minor (6-6) gave up five runs on seven hits over five innings.
The Red Sox increased their lead in the AL East to three games with Tampa Bay losing to Washington. Martinez hit a three-run homer in the third, his 16th of the season, for a 3-1 lead. Renfroe added a solo shot in the eighth.
Xander Bogaerts and Marwin Gonzalez each had two hits for Boston.
A Fenway Park usher watches as a rainbow emerges in the sky before Wednesday in Boston. The game between the Red Sox and Royals was delayed 30 minutes at the start because of the rain before the rainbow, then delayed another two-plus hours in the middle of the sixth inning. Elise Amendola/Associated Press
Royals right-hander Richard Lovelady was struck by Martinez’s line-drive comebacker in the seventh and left the game. He pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings in his season debut.
NOTES: Red Sox RHP Tanner Houck (flexor strain) started for Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday, going four innings, throwing 67 pitches. … 1B Bobby Dalbec was out of the starting lineup after leaving Tuesday’s game with right hamstring tightness. He was better, Manager Alex Cora said, but not 100%. … Christian Arroyo (right knee contusion) is expected to start a rehab assignment with Worcester on Thursday, serving as the DH.
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