What’s better than one Kutter Crawford start of seven scoreless innings leading to a Red Sox shutout victory?

Two of them, back-to-back, to cap off the right-hander’s excellent first half and cement Boston’s 11th shutout of the season, 5-0 over the Kansas City Royals.

After coming off a seven-inning start on a mere 68 pitches at Yankee Stadium last Sunday, Crawford followed with a similarly brilliant performance at Fenway on Saturday. Over seven innings, he held the Royals to two hits, four strikeouts one walk – Royals leadoff man Adam Frazier worked an 11-pitch at-bat to draw Crawford’s lone walk in the sixth, the first he’d issued in his last 23 innings – and a hit batsman. He threw 96 pitches, 76 for strikes.

“I try to go out there and challenge myself, try to see how many competitive strikes I can throw,” the right-hander said.

Immediate run support certainly helped. Seth Lugo entered the contest leading the Majors in ERA, but the Red Sox pounced immediately. After stranding Jarren Duran (406-foot leadoff double) and David Hamilton (walk) in the first, Boston took a 1-0 lead in the second when Dom Smith singled and scored from first on Reese McGuire’s double to the right-field corner. They added another three runs in the third, when Masataka Yoshida and Rafael Devers collected back-to-back singles and touched home on Wilyer Abreu’s ground-rule double just inside the Pesky Pole.

“Everyone was really locked in from the very beginning,” Devers said via Daveson Perez.

The fifth and final run of the day also belonged to Devers. On the eighth pitch of his at-bat against Lugo to lead off the fifth, he shot one to the front row of the Green Monster seats. His 22nd home run of the season moved him ahead of Jason Varitek for sole possession of 11th on the Red Sox all-time home-run list.

“First thing’s first, I’m glad we’re wearing the same jersey, because obviously we’ve seen the pitches that he can hit,” Crawford said. “That’s Raffy. That’s what he does. It’s awesome. Like I said, I’m glad we’re on the same team. … He’s must-watch TV. Whenever he’s at-bat, you need to grab the top step (of the dugout).”

“I love the way he pitches, in particular,” Devers said of Crawford. “I love watching him.”

“We put some good at-bats against him,” Cora said of Lugo, who allowed five earned runs – matching his season-high – on 10 hits (a new season-high), one walk, and six strikeouts over five innings. “Very similar to (Phillies starter Aaron Nola), the breaking ball and the changeup and leaving down in the zone, and the lefties did an amazing job.”

Crawford returned to the mound for the eighth, his first time making a start so deep in the Majors. When he gave up a leadoff single to Maikel Garcia, his manager came out to make a pitching change.

“I’m thankful that he did send me back out there in that situation,” Crawford said.

As he walked back towards the dugout, he was moved by the long standing ovation from the crowd.

“It was awesome. Any time you can have a performance like that in front of the Red Sox faithful here, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, it’s a great feeling. It almost feels like you’re on Cloud Nine. Just try to soak it all in.”

Zack Kelly took care of the remaining six outs. On his first pitch, he induced a double-play ball, ensuring the Sox starter’s scoreless gem.

“Love to see it, love to see it,” Crawford said appreciatively. He heads into the break with six consecutive quality starts. He hasn’t allowed a run over his last 15 innings, the longest streak of his career. He joins Nick Pivetta (Sept. 23 and 29, 2023) as the only two Red Sox pitchers to make back-to-back scoreless starts of at least seven innings in the last five years.

“It’s eye-opening, but it’s a testament of the hard work he put in the offseason, buying into the concept of throwing quality strikes. Get ahead, stay ahead,” Alex Cora said. “As far as like, weapons, he has a lot of them. …Yeah, he’s a complete pitcher.”

All told, the Boston bats collected 12 hits, including multi-hit performances by Duran, Devers, Smith and McGuire. For the second time this season, all seven lefties recorded at least one hit; the first was exactly a month prior, against Nola.

“We were relentless today,” Cora said.

The Red Sox have been relentless for some time. The Red Sox are 52-42, including 9-3 since June 30. Their 11 shutout wins are tied with the Atlanta Braves for the most in the Majors; Boston only had five such contests all last year.

And with Saturday’s win, they’ve ensured they’ll go into the All-Star break in sole possession or tied with the Royals for the third American League Wild Card.