BOSTON (Interstat) — Payton Tolle struck out seven over six scoreless innings, and the Boston Red Sox used a tiebreaking seventh inning and a two-run eighth to beat the Kansas City Royals 4-1 on Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park.

Tolle opened with a dominant first inning, striking out Nick Loftin, Bobby Witt Jr. and Jac Caglianone. Boston put two runners on in the bottom half when Wilyer Abreu singled and Willson Contreras walked, but Adley Rutschman grounded out to end the inning. Tolle, coming off a six-inning, 12-strikeout win at Baltimore on Sept. 6, allowed four hits and one walk while keeping Kansas City off the scoreboard. The Boston starter retired the Royals in order in the third and worked around traffic in the fourth, fifth and sixth. He struck out seven and left with a 1-0 lead. Tolle’s outing was the top performance of the game for Boston, which improved to 82-68.

Kansas City’s Noah Cameron matched Tolle for much of the afternoon. Cameron pitched six innings, yielding four hits and one earned run with four strikeouts. The lone damage against him came in the bottom of the second, when Caleb Durbin homered to left-center field for his 13th home run of the season. The solo shot gave Boston a 1-0 lead. Durbin finished 1-for-1 with a home run, one run scored and one RBI, and he reached base three more times on two hit-by-pitches and a walk. Nick Sogard grounded out and Nate Eaton struck out to end the second. Cameron breezed through the third, retiring Roman Anthony, Jahmai Jones and Abreu in order.

The Royals put together early chances but could not break through against Tolle. In the top of the second, Salvador Perez struck out before Michael Massey singled to first baseman Willson Contreras. Matthew Lugo lined out to left fielder Roman Anthony, and Isaac Collins popped out to Contreras in foul territory. Kansas City threatened in the fifth when Luke Maile singled to left and Tyler Tolbert singled to right, moving Maile to third. Nick Loftin then grounded out, with third baseman Durbin throwing to first baseman Contreras, ending the inning.

Boston threatened again in the fourth. Willson Contreras reached on a throwing error by third baseman Nick Loftin and went to second. Adley Rutschman flew out to right fielder Matthew Lugo before Trevor Story singled to right, moving Contreras to third. Durbin was then hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Nick Sogard grounded into a double play, with second baseman Michael Massey and first baseman Salvador Perez turning it, to end the inning. Boston grounded into another double play in the sixth when Rutschman hit into a shortstop-to-second-to-first twin killing after Contreras singled.

Kansas City tied the game in the top of the seventh against Boston’s bullpen. Erik Miller walked Isaac Collins and Luke Maile to begin the inning. Tyler Tolbert then flew into a force out that erased Collins at third, leaving John Rave at second. The Royals challenged the force play, but the call was upheld. Carter Jensen followed with a single to right field that scored John Rave, making it 1-1. Garrett Whitlock replaced Miller and struck out Bobby Witt Jr. before Vinnie Pasquantino flew out sharply to center fielder Nate Eaton. Whitlock finished with two-thirds of an inning, one hit, no earned runs and one strikeout in relief. Miller was charged with one earned run in one-third of an inning without allowing a hit.

Boston answered in the bottom half. Craig Kimbrel, who took the loss, retired Story on a fly ball to center before walking Durbin and Sogard. Connor Thomas relieved and struck out Andruw Monasterio, but Roman Anthony lined a single to left field that scored Durbin and moved Sogard to third. Thomas then struck out Jahmai Jones to end the inning, but Boston had regained a 2-1 lead. Thomas pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowing one hit with no earned runs and two strikeouts. Kimbrel was charged with one earned run in one-third of an inning without allowing a hit.

Boston added insurance in the eighth. Wilyer Abreu struck out, but Contreras singled to right and Rutschman doubled to left, putting runners on second and third. Story followed with a two-run single to left, scoring Contreras and Rutschman for a 4-1 lead. Durbin was hit by a pitch, and Sogard struck out before Jarren Duran flew out to left. Story finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Rutschman’s double was his 22nd of the season.

Greg Weissert pitched a perfect eighth for Boston, allowing no hits and striking out one. Kansas City went down in order in the eighth on Perez’s groundout, Massey’s strikeout and Josh Rojas’ groundout. Aroldis Chapman handled the ninth for his 34th save, striking out Tolbert, Jensen and Witt around two walks. Chapman finished with one inning of no-hit, scoreless relief and three strikeouts. Whitlock earned the win in relief, improving to 7-1. Kimbrel fell to 1-5. Kansas City finished with five hits, while Boston had eight. Boston grounded into two double plays. The Royals scored their only run in the seventh. Kansas City’s record dropped to 66-84. Boston’s record moved to 82-68. The Red Sox took two of three in the weekend series after Kansas City won Friday and Boston won Saturday. The afternoon game at Fenway Park drew 34,966 and took 2 hours, 41 minutes.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected Boston 5, Kansas City 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave Boston a 62.7 percent probability to win. Boston was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total of 5 finished under the over/under line of 7.5.