I am sure when the Red Sox saw the Kansas City Royals on the schedule, they thought they would maybe get a sweep, or at least take 2 out of 3 games. Well this was not the case as the Royals were able to get to Julian Tavarez for six runs and beat the Red Sox 6-5 on this balmy Wednesday night to take the series 2 games to 1. The Sox were able to get to Royals starter Odalis Perez for 5 runs but the Royals bullpen held off the Sox. The young bats of Alex Gordon and Billy Butler both had 2 hits and 2 RBI for the Royals while Dustin Pedroia had 3 hits for the Sox.It was a pitcher’s duel sort of in the first three innings. Yo-Yo only allowed 1 hit while Perez allowed 3 hits, including 2 to Pedroia.
The Royals got on the scoreboard first at the Fens in the 4th. Mark Grudzielanek led off the inning with a single off of Yo-Yo and went to second on a Mark Teahen single. Butler moved the runners over a base each with a groundout to Kevin Youkilis at first. Ross Gload brought in Grudzielanek with a sacrifice fly to right field for the first run of the game. Gordon followed with a single bringing Teahen to give the Royals a 2-0 lead. Emil Brown then singled with Gordon moving to second. Yo-Yo got out of the inning by getting Jason Smith to fly out to Manny in left.
The local nine got the runs back and then some in their half of the 4th. Manny led off with a single and Youk worked a walk off of Perez. Lowell followed with a single to load up the bases for Jason Varitek. Varitek brought in the first run on a fielder’s choice with Manny scoring and Lowell out at second. Perez then walked Coco Crisp to reload the bases. The uber-hot Julio Lugo extended his hitting streak to 8 games with a two-run double giving the Red Sox a 3-2 lead. J.D. Drew brought in the fourth run of the inning with a sacrifice fly as Coco scored easily from third. Pedroia ended the inning with a ground out to third on a very close call at first base.
Tavarez imploded in the 5th inning as the Royals regained their 2-run lead. Yo-Yo got the first out of the inning as he got Jason LaRue to ground out to Lowell at third. David DeJesus then reached as he laid down a perfect bunt. Grudzielanek followed with a double to deep leftfield that scored DeJesus all the way from first base, cutting the lead to 4-3. Lowell then committed his 14th error of the season on a Teahen groundball. Yo-Yo then left a slider up in the zone that Butler crushed for a 2-run double giving the Royals the lead back at 5-4. Butler moved over to third on a Gload ground out to second. Butler came around to score on Gordon’s second RBI single of the night, making it 6-4 Royals. That last run chased Yo-Yo from the game as Mike Timlin came into the game. With Brown at the plate, Gordon was thrown out stealing by Varitek ending the inning.
Tavarez went 4 2/3 innings, allowing 9 hits, and 6 runs (4 earned). He didn’t walk anybody and struck out 3 Royals.
Manny got the last run the Red Sox would score in their half of the 5th inning. After Perez got Big Papi out to lead off the inning, Manny followed with a solo homer into the Monster seats. This cut the Royals lead to one at 6-5. Perez finished off the 5th by getting Youk and Lowell on ground ball outs.
Timlin was outstanding again he retired all 6 batters he faced tonight. Former Red Sox pitcher David Riske came in and got the Sox in order in the 6th inning and gave way to Jimmy Gobble in the 7th.
Gobble sandwiched two outs around a Pedroia single before giving way Joakim Soria. Soria came in and walked Manny but got Youk to ground out to second on a great diving stop by Grudzielanek.
Manny Delcarmen pitched the 8th inning and walked Butler to lead off the inning. Esteban German came into run and was retired on a strike’em-throw’em out double play with Gload at the plate. Delcarmen got Gordon to strikeout to end the inning.
The Sox had a chance in the 8th inning. After Soria got the first two outs of the inning, Crisp hit a triple to deep right that missed being a homerun by about a foot and a half. Lugo was unable to to bring Crisp home as he flew out to center.
Jonathan Papelbon came in and worked a 1-2-3 9th inning, getting 2 of 3 via the strikeout. Octavio Dotel came on for the Royals in the 9th and got the first two outs of the inning. Big Papi hit a single off of Dotel that might have been caught had the Royals not been playing deep. Alex Cora came into run for Big Papi setting the stage for Manny. Manny failed to deliver as he popped out to second, giving Dotel a save and the Royals a win and the series.
With the Red Sox losing and the Yankees winning tonight, the lead in the AL East is now down to 7 games. The Sox now turn their hopes to their other Japanese sensation, Daisuke Matuszaka, as he gets the ball against the Chicago White Sox tomorrow night. The White Sox are in town for a 4-game set. The loss also drops the Red Sox record to 3-4 on this 11-game homestand.
