By the time the Royals finished the second inning Monday night in Boston, they had scored as many runs as they did in the previous three-game series in Texas. It was a welcome sight for a scuffling offense that has seen flashes of depth, but not enough consistency throughout the first half of the season.

But the three early home runs weren’t enough to outhit a powerful Red Sox lineup in the Royals’ 6-5 loss at Fenway Park to open the four-game set this week. Boston mounted a six-run comeback on starter Danny Duffy and the Royals bullpen for their sixth straight loss on this 10-game road trip.

• Box score

“My expectations far surpassed my performance today,” Duffy said. “My team spotted me five runs today and I gave four of them right back.”

The Royals did to Red Sox starter Garrett Richards what a lot of teams had done to the right-hander -- who entered Monday with a 9.82 ERA in his last three starts -- recently, which is a good sign for any offense, but especially one that’s trying to find its footing. And a combination of a lineup shuffle and a fresh face seemed to give them a needed and early boost.

Whit Merrifield led off the game with a single in the top of the first, and Jorge Soler -- in his first game in the No. 2 spot of the order -- followed with an opposite-field single. Then Carlos Santana crushed a pitch to right-center field to give Kansas City a three-run lead before Richards recorded an out. It was the Royals' first home run in four games and gave them their first lead since the third inning on Friday against the Rangers.

With two outs in the first, third baseman Emmanuel Rivera knocked his first Major League hit on the first pitch he saw, and the rookie went 2-for-4 in his debut Monday night.

For a team looking to find any sort of momentum as the season wears on, a shutdown inning after taking a lead is imperative. Kiké Hernández pounced on a fastball from Duffy to put the Red Sox on the board in the bottom of the first.

“We come out of the gate and our offense is able to do some things and we’re looking for a shutdown right there,” manager Mike Matheny said. “I know that’s what Duff’s thinking. Unfortunately, made a pitch right at the beginning to put some momentum back the other way.”

Merrifield and Michael A. Taylor added to the score with solo homers in the second, with Merrifield’s giving him his 24th multi-hit game of the season and Taylor’s giving him his first home run in 103 at-bats. After being unable to notch an extra-base hit for two consecutive games, the three home runs were the most the Royals have had in a game since June 3 against the Twins, and the most on the road since May 1 in Minnesota.

But that’s when Richards started to settle in. The Royals had baserunners in every inning except the eighth and ninth, but none reached second base.

“[We had] five runs on the board, and not that we’re going to be content with that and then shut down the offense, but they did some special things to get us in a place to have enough runs to win,” Matheny said.

Meanwhile, Duffy allowed a solo home run to Bobby Dalbec in the second and a two-run shot to Hunter Renfroe in the fourth to end Duffy’s night after 3 1/3 innings as the veteran lefty builds up innings in his second start off the injured list.

Kyle Zimmer allowed the tying run to score in Boston's three-run fourth inning, and Renfroe’s second homer of the night was the go-ahead run off Josh Staumont in the sixth.

It was the Red Sox's 26th comeback win of the season. And while the Royals showed positive signs all night, the end result was far from what they wanted or needed.

“I’m going to kick myself over a lot of pitches I threw tonight,” Duffy said. “But tomorrow, the sun’s going to come up and I’m going to be better for them. It sucks right now because we've lost six in a row, we’re not playing very good baseball right now. But this team is capable of a lot more than what we’re showing right now. You’re going to see that.”