Red Sox Lose To Royals, Fall Out Of First Place In AL East
By The Sports Xchange
BOSTON -- The hottest pitching staff in baseball slowed down the best offense in baseball Friday.
The Kansas City Royals, who boast the best ERA in the majors in August, held the Boston Red Sox at bay and the Kansas City bullpen extended its franchise-record scoreless-innings streak to 41 1/3 innings before a ninth-inning hiccup in a 6-3 victory at Fenway Park.
Starter Ian Kennedy (9-9) earned the win for the Royals (67-61), who have won 11 of their past 12 games and 16 of their past 19 to pull within three games of the Baltimore Orioles for the second wild card in the American League.
Kennedy went 5 1/3 innings, allowed two runs on nine hits and struck out eight while walking two and throwing 107 pitches (68 strikes).
The Royals had a 2.26 ERA in August entering Friday.
Royals relievers allowed one run in 3 2/3 innings.
Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon homered during a five-run first inning and Lorenzo Cain hit a home run later as part of the Royals nine-hit attack in support of the strong pitching performance.
"After we scored the five, I looked up on the clock and it was like a 24-minute inning," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "So I was like 'OK, the same is going to go for us.' If we can get Ian through the first inning, he'll be fine. Ian threw the ball really, really well.
"Command was off just an inch. He missed a lot of pitches by an inch, which resulted in a high pitch count. But still made great pitches when he needed to to limit damage. And the bullpen took over from there."
Mookie Betts went 5-for-5 with two RBIs and Dustin Pedroia went 4-for-4 and drove in one run but the Red Sox (71-57), who lead baseball in runs scored and most other major offensive categories, left 12 men on base and lost their third straight.
The Red Sox fell one game behind the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the American League East.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Betts delivered an RBI single but Kelvin Herrera extinguished the Red Sox rally for his 10th save.
Boston starter Steven Wright (13-6) put the Red Sox in a 5-0 hole in the first inning but rebounded with five shutout innings in his first start since Aug. 5. Wright, who had been on the disabled list because of a shoulder injury before Friday, finished with five runs allowed on seven hits in six innings.
"It feels good. My first inning, I definitely didn't really know going into a game situation," Wright said. "But I felt good. I definitely was antsy. I had a lot of adrenaline going into the first inning. I was able to settle down a little bit after the first inning. So definitely the positive taken out of it for me was I felt good."
Wright hadn't allowed two home runs in a game all season, but surrendered two in the first inning to the Royals. Hosmer drilled one into the Monster seats with two men on base for a 3-0 lead. Two batters later, Gordon hit a 1-0 knuckleball into the Monster seats with a man on to make it 5-0.
Betts singled home a run in the bottom of the first, but Kennedy caught Sandy Leon looking and fanned Jackie Bradley Jr. to escape a bases-loaded jam.
Pedroia's RBI single in the sixth cut the lead to 5-2.
Cain hit the Royals' third home run leading off eighth against reliever Junichi Tazawa for a 6-2 lead.
NOTES: OF Andrew Benintendi, who was placed on the disabled list because of a knee injury he suffered running the bases Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays, went through a number of tests Friday. Manager John Farrell said the tests revealed no structural damage and just a sprained left knee. There is a chance Benintendi could return to the Red Sox lineup before the end of the regular season. ... With Wright activated the Red Sox made room on the roster by optioning RHP Heath Hembree to Triple-A Pawtucket. ... With Wright back, RHP Clay Buchholz has been shifted to the bullpen. ... RHP Koji Uehara, who has been on the DL since July 20 with a right pectoral strain, threw a 50-pitch bullpen session Friday. ... Royals manager Ned Yost said RHP Wade Davis, who has been on the DL since July 31 (retroactive to July 28) with a flexor strain, will pitch on a rehab assignment for Triple-A Omaha on Saturday and probably again Monday. But Yost doesn't expect the closer to return before Sept. 1.
