The Boston Red Sox had a few chances to get back into the game in the 8th and 9th innings but were held off as the Kansas Royals hung on for a 4-3 win in front 24,378 overheated fans at Kauffman Stadium. The loss ended a 3-game winning streak for the Red Sox while Kansas City has now won 7 of their last 8.

With the Rays and Yankees losing, they stay 3 games behind the Rays and 2 ½ ahead of the Yankees in the AL East. Their lead in the wildcard is 1 ½ games over the White Sox and Twins who are in a virtual tie for 1st place in the AL Central.

Joakim Soria took over for Ron Mahay in the 9th and gave up a lead-off single to Coco Crisp. He then got J.D. Drew to strikeout as the 1st base umpire said he went around as he tried to hold up his swing. Dustin Pedroia followed that up with a single but David Ortiz grounded out to Ross Gload at first base to move the runners up 90 feet. Jacoby Ellsbury came into run for Pedroia before the Royals decided to intentionally walk Kevin Youkilis. Jason Bay then reached on an infield single as Alex Gordon and Tony Peña ran into each other as Crisp scored to cut the lead to 4-3. The game ended as Sean Casey flew out to right field.

The struggles for Clay Buchholz continued as he battled to get through 6 innings. The one bad inning for him tonight came in the 3rd inning when he gave up 3 runs. On the night, he gave up 7 hits, 4 runs and 3 walks while striking out 4 on 93 pitches. Justin Masterson gave up a hit while striking out 2 in an inning of work while Javier Lopez worked a perfect inning as well.

The hitting machine that is Dustin Pedroia paced the Red Sox with 3 hits to pick up his 45th multi-hit game of the season. The only starters without a hit were J.D. Drew and David Ortiz as the rest of the lineup had a hit each. Big Papi is clearly missing that big bat in front of him as he now 1-for-15 with 4 walks and an RBI in the last 4 games.

Things looked good for the Red Sox in the 1st inning when they got Royals starter Gil Meche.

Drew worked a walk to start the inning and went to third on a Pedroia double. Big Papi grounded out to first base as Drew came into score to make it 1-0. It quickly became 2-0 when a double by Kevin Youkilis scored Pedroia. Meche recovered though as he picked up 2 of his 9 strikeouts by getting Jason Bay and Casey.

The Royals got a run back in the 2nd inning when Buchholz gave up a 1-out solo home run to Alex Gordon.

While we all hope it doesn’t happen, the big bad inning for Buchholz came in the 3rd inning.

The inning looked to start well as Buchholz struck out Mitch Maier. The red-hot Mike Aviles then reached on a single and then Esteban German reached on a single that took off in front of Jed Lowrie. The runners moved up 90 feet on a Buchholz wild pitch before a Gordon single scored Aviles to tie the game at 2. Claynation then loaded up the bases with a walk to Jose Guillen. Billy Butler’s sacrifice fly gave the Royals a 3-2 lead and then Buchholz walked Gordon to load the bases up again. He then hit John Buck with a pitch to force in a run and give the Royals a 4-2 lead.

Ramon Ramirez got the first two outs in the 8th inning but back-to-back singles by Casey and Jed Lowrie put runners on 1st and 3rd. Mahay came in for Ramirez and promptly struck out Jason Varitek.

Josh Beckett will take the hill for the visiting nine tomorrow night as he tries to cool off the smoking hot Royals.

Notes and musings:

Red Sox @ Royals 8.4.08 boxscore

Earlier in the day, Jon Lester was named American League Pitcher of the Month for July. Lester is the 1st Red Sox pitcher to win the monthly award since Pedro Martinez in July 2002. He is just the 2nd Red Sox lefthander to ever capture monthly honors. Bruce Hurst was selected twice, September 1986 and August 1988.

The Red Sox have played 270 regular season games since their last trip to Kansas City.

Boston has posted a 3.58 ERA (126 ER/316.2 IP) over the last 35 games beginning June 22, the 2nd lowest ERA in the majors in that span behind the Dodgers at 3.05.

The Boston bullpen has pitched 10.2 scoreless innings in the last 3 games and has posted a 1.40 ERA (6 ER/38.2 IP) over the last 10 games to lower season figure from 4.02 to 3.73, best since April 2 after 4 games (2.63).

Red Sox on hitting streaks:

• Kevin Youkilis – 11 games
• Jason Bay – 6 games (2 with Pittsburgh, 4 with Boston)
• Dustin Pedroia – 5 games
• Jed Lowrie – 4 games

Pedroia now also hit in 25 straight road games, which is the highest by a member of the Red Sox since 1913.