MJ Melendez hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning and had a career-high six RBIs to help the Kansas City Royals beat the Boston Red Sox 13-5. The rookie Melendez blasted it an estimated 406-feet to right field which bounced into the fountains to give the Royals a 5-0 lead. Melendez is putting together quite the campaign after being called up on May 3. He’s hit 13 home runs on the year and has back-to-back homer games four times this season. Among rookies, he’s hit the fifth most home runs this season and is just two behind teammate Bobby Witt Jr.

Xander Bogaerts had four hits, Alex Verdugo doubled twice and the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 7-4. Verdugo had three hits as Boston evened the four-game series at a win apiece. Josh Winckowski allowed one run on five hits over five innings for the Red Sox. Zack Greinke allowed four runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings for Kansas City. The Red Sox got on the board in the second when ex-Royal Eric Hosmer pulled a double down the right-field line, scoring Verdugo. The Red Sox got on the board in the second when ex-Royal Eric Hosmer pulled a double down the right-field line, scoring Verdugo.

Trey Mancini homered in his first start for Houston to back a sterling performance by Jose Urquidy, and the Astros beat the Boston Red Sox 6-1. Mancini, who was traded from Baltimore on Monday to bolster the offense with first baseman Yuli Gurriel struggling, grounded out as a pinch-hitter in his Astros debut Tuesday night. Things went much better in his first at-bat Wednesday, when he knocked a pitch from Rich Hill into the seats in left field for a two-run shot that made it 4-0 with no outs in the second inning. Urquidy allowed two hits and tied a career high with 10 strikeouts in seven shutout innings.

The Chicago White Sox have acquired left-handed reliever Jake Diekman from the Boston Red Sox for catcher Reese McGuire and a player to be named or cash. Later Monday, the Red Sox acquired left fielder Tommy Pham in a trade with Cincinnati in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. The 35-year-old Diekman is 5-1 with a 4.23 ERA in 44 appearances this season. The 6-foot-4 Diekman is particularly tough on left-handed batters, holding them to a .188 batting average this year.

David Ortiz returned to Fenway Park for the first time as a newly minted Hall of Famer. The Red Sox honored their longtime slugger before the game against the Cleveland Guardians. Three giant World Series banners were unfurled on the field. Three championship trophies sat on a table behind Ortiz as he thanked the Boston fans. Dignitaries in attendance included Hall of Famers Carl Yastrzemski, Pedro Martinez, Jim Rice and Vladimir Guerrero. Ortiz's former manager Terry Francona and John Farrell were also there, along with ex-GM Theo Epstein. After the ceremony, Francona headed over to the visitor's dugout to manage the Guardians.

Cleveland pitcher Zach Plesac threw the ball completely out of Fenway Park as the grounds crew began to bring out the tarp, and the Boston Red Sox ended a five-game losing streak by beating the Guardians 3-1. Alex Verdugo hit a tiebreaking double and Boston’s bullpen worked 3 1/3 scoreless innings. The Red Sox are just 6-15 in July. The Guardians lost their third in a row. Yolmer Sánchez hit an RBI single in the third to put Boston ahead 1-0. Umpire crew chief Dan Iassogna then called for the grounds crew to roll out the tarp and Plesac, who was walking to the dugout on the third-base side, fired the ball over the third-base roof and out of the ballpark. The game was delayed 38 minutes by rain.

Raimel Tapia had three hits and drove in four runs, giving him 10 RBIs for the series, and Vladimir Guerrero had four hits for the Toronto Blue Jays as they pounded the bumbling Boston Red Sox 8-4 to complete a three-game sweep. Two days after Tapia had an inside-the-park grand slam in a record-setting 28-5 victory, he had a bases-loaded triple off top Boston prospect Brayan Bello. The Blue Jays also took advantage of three errors and a series of other blunders by Boston, which is just a half-game out of last place in the AL East. On the day David Ortiz was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame about a four-hour drive to the west, the Red Sox lost their fifth straight game.

All-Star Alek Manoah pitched six sharp innings as the Toronto Blue Jays relied more on his arm than their bats to keep up their season-long dominance of the Red Sox, beating Boston 4-1. A day after Toronto set a team record for runs — and posted the most ever scored against the Red Sox — in a 28-5 romp, Manoah set the tone. Boston lost for the eighth time in nine games. Red Sox fans were sure to get a cheer on Sunday, however, when former slugger David Ortiz was inducted into the Hall of Fame — plenty of them headed to Cooperstown, New York, to see Big Papi enshrined. Toronto got seven hits a day after pounding out 29, and improved to 9-3 against the Red Sox this year.