This week’s pivotal matchup between the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals could set the tone for the rest of the playoff race. A good showing by Boston would help close the 2 1/2-game gap between the two clubs, while a series win for Kansas City would expand that gulf and significantly hurt Boston’s playoff odds.

Monday night, Round 1 went to the Red Sox.

Boston took the series opener 9-5 thanks to a timely two-run double by Jarren Duran in the sixth, a two-run moonshot by Romy Gonzalez in the seventh and a strong overall outing by left-hander James Paxton. The Red Sox collectively mashed 18 hits, their third-highest total in a game this season, and went 6 for 13 with runners in scoring position.

The game also featured what may have been, without exaggeration, one of the best catches in recent Red Sox history.

Ceddanne Rafaela, who has routinely turned in highlight reel catches in center field ever since his days as a minor leaguer, authored his masterpiece with one out in the bottom of the fifth. After Maikel Garcia crushed a deep fly ball to the warning track, Rafaela ran full speed, leapt up and backhanded the ball over his left shoulder just before he crashed into the center field wall.

He hung on for the out, and everyone at Kauffman Stadium’s jaws hit the floor.

Rafaela played an important role in Boston’s subsequent sixth-inning rally. With Nick Sogard at first and two outs, the rookie blooped a ball into no-man’s land to keep the inning alive. He then took second on the lazy throw back to the infield, and Royals starter Brady Singer was pulled immediately afterwards.

Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro gave the ball to reliever Angel Zerpa, and Duran immediately greeted him with a go-ahead two-run double.

Up to that point the Red Sox and Royals had been locked in a tight, low-scoring affair. Boston took an initial 2-0 lead in the second on a David Hamilton RBI double and a Duran RBI groundout, and the Royals came back to tie it on a Bobby Witt Jr. RBI single in the third and then a Freddie Fermin RBI infield single in the fourth.

But once Duran gave Boston the lead in the sixth, it was all Red Sox.

Boston blew the game open with four runs in the seventh, all of which came with no outs. Masataka Yoshida (4 for 5) led off with a double, Rafael Devers singled, Connor Wong scored Yoshida with an RBI single, Devers scored on a wild pitch and then Romy Gonzalez put the game away with a 452-foot blast to dead center field, making it 8-2 Boston.

Paxton kept the Royals at bay and finished his outing strong by retiring the last seven batters he faced. He allowed two runs on five hits over six innings with one walk and four strikeouts.

Singer, meanwhile, was charged with four runs on 10 hits and a walk over 5 2/3 innings. He threw 107 pitches and struck out six.

Kansas City was able to get a pair of runs back against reliever Cooper Criswell in the seventh on an Adam Frazier RBI single and a Garcia RBI double, but Cora went to newly acquired right-hander Lucas Sims, who forced the MVP candidate Witt to pop out to end the threat.

Boston tacked on another insurance run in the eighth on a Wong RBI single — though the club also ran into two outs on the base paths to stunt what could have been a bigger inning. Kansas City’s Vinnie Pasquantino hit a solo homer off Luis Garcia in the bottom of the eighth, but that’s as close as the Royals got as Garcia and left-hander Cam Booser took care of business the rest of the way.

The Red Sox (60-51) now trail the Royals (63-51) by 1.5 games in the AL wild-card standings. Boston will look to move within a half-game on Tuesday when Brayan Bello (10-5, 5.13) takes on Kansas City ace Seth Lugo (13-5, 2.57). First pitch is scheduled for 8:10 p.m. ET.

O’Neill out again

Tyler O’Neill (illness) was out of the lineup for the third straight game on Monday, and Cora told reporters that he likely won’t be back until Wednesday at the earliest.

Cora did provide a positive update on right-hander Chris Martin (right elbow inflammation), who was originally expected to throw a rehab outing in the minors on Wednesday, but who might just be activated straightaway instead. The club is expected to make a final decision on Tuesday, according to MLB.com’s Ian Browne.

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