Red Sox News & Notes – 7/28

David Ortiz(notes) #34 of the Boston Red Sox hits a grand slam in the fourth inning as Brayan Pena(notes) #27 of the Kansas City Royals catches on July 27, 2011 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. John Lackey gives up early runs but somehow manages to pick up the win for the Boston Red Sox.

Well that’s exactly what happened on Wednesday night at the Fens against the Kansas City Royals as Lackey would give up three early runs only to see the offense explode again. They would get him a total of 10 runs in the 1st, 2nd and 4th innings.

Now you have to wonder if today’s starter Josh Beckett was thinking that he’ll get some of this support in his start. He’s received 3.71 runs a game while Lackey had gotten 6.41 runs in his previous 16 starts before Wednesday. That figure will again climb.

As it’s been in the past, Lackey struggled with the execution of pitches. He left pitches out over the plate and the Royals took advantage. I guess the entire blame can’t fall on Lackey though as Yamaico Navarro misjudged a fly ball in left that went off the bottom of the Green Monster and that was followed by a Kevin Youkilis error at third.

John Lackey(notes) #41 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after giving up a three run homer in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals on July 27, 2011 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. That tough first inning put the Red Sox in a 3-0 hole. But Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia made sure that gap would be narrowed with back-to-back solo home runs to start the bottom half. And like they’ve done for the better part of the season now, they didn’t stop there.

They would add three more runs in the second and five more in the fourth, four of them coming off the bat of David Ortiz who cleared the bases with a grand slam.

Ellsbury and Pedroia continue their hotness at the plate as they both went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a home run. Ellsbury also added a stolen base. And even Adrian Gonzalez continues to do the job at the plate as he had a three hit night with three RBIs. Darnell McDonald and Navarro also had two hits.

Right now the main concern for the Red Sox is their starting pitching. Right now, Beckett is the most consistent pitcher the Red Sox have. Jon Lester will probably be back there sooner rather than later. The problems lies that Lackey, Andrew Miller and Tim Wakefield are having trouble. And the news of Clay Buchholz going to see another specialist doesn’t sound good.

The obvious ETA for Buchholz to return is probably late August to early September which is great and all because he’d be fresh for a possible playoff run. But what are the Red Sox to do in the meantime.

I mean the offense is good but how many times are they going to be needed to carry the pitching staff. At some point, the bad starting pitching will come back to bite them in the buttocks. So it will be interesting to see what Theo Epstein and the rest of his brain trust have up their sleeves before Sunday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline.

The Red Sox also get the game back they lost to the New York Yankees on Monday. The Seattle Mariners finally ended their 17-game losing streak with a win over the Yanks on Wednesday afternoon.

We’ll be back in a short while with this afternoon’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the morning. But for now, enjoy the overnight links from the media by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

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As concern about Buchholz grows, Red Sox explore starting market [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]

Ortiz slam helps Sox crown Royals [Boston Globe]

Buchholz again is delayed [Boston Globe]

Sox offense takes burden off Lackey [Boston Globe]

Red Sox bats take care of Royals [Boston Herald]

Red Sox remain on lookout [Boston Herald]

David Ortiz keeps up the power [Boston Herald]

Struggling Carl Crawford takes seat [Boston Herald]

Sox pound KC behind Ortiz slam [CSNNE.com]

Ortiz has milestone night in Red Sox uniform [CSNNE.com]

Notes: Lackey settling down in second half [CSNNE.com]