After a disappointing 14 inning loss (aren't they all?), the Boston Red Sox responded last night by pounding out 16 hits in a 13-9 win over the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park.
Despite the fact that Jacoby Ellsbury (rest) and Kevin Youkilis (sore foot) started the game on the bench, Boston (63-38) had no problem putting up 10+ hits for the tenth straight game-an MLB high. They also have scored double-digit runs for an MLB-leading 15th time so far this season.
Dustin Pedroia was put in the cleanup spot and he responded as he always does, going 4 for 5 with three runs, an RBI and a walk. In his career, he's hit fourth seven times and gone 17 for 31 (.548) with seven extra-base hits and nine RBIs. Oh by the way, his career-best hit streak was extended to 23 games. Ho hum.
His bid for the cycle came up just short (no pun intended) in the eighth as his fairly deep fly ball fell a few feet shy of the Green Monster. Credit to NESN though as they sold it about as hard as they could with Don Orsillo going bananas and the cameraman shooting straight up in the sky.
David Ortiz was the other Red Sox player that the Royals (43-60) simply couldn't get out. Big Papi was 4 for 5 with five RBIs and a career-high three doubles.
Adrian Gonzalez added three runs, two hits, two RBIs and a walk while Ellsbury (who pinch hit in the fifth) ended up with two hits and a run.
As you can guess by the score, it was anything but a pitcher's duel between Boston's Andrew Miller (3.2 innings, 9 hits, 7 runs, 5 earned runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout) and Kansas City's wannabe Southie transplant Danny Duffy (3.2 innings, 6 hits, 6 earned runs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts).
Billy Butler, fantasy baseball geeks' perennial wet dream provider, led the Royals with three hits, three RBIs and two runs. Mike Aviles had three hits and a run while Alex Gordon (2 hits, 2 RBIs, run, walk) and Eric Hosmer (2 hits, run, RBI) are some of Kansas City's solid prospects and youngsters that prove the Royals might be actually competitive someday if they stumble upon a few pitchers and a manager not named Ned Yost.
If Miller has proven anything in his seven starts in Boston (5.45 ERA overall; 7.94 ERA, 2.29 WHIP, 4 Ks in 17 IP against 4 AL teams), it's that he's unreliable. The Red Sox' biggest hole right now is in the back end of their rotation where John Lackey, Tim Wakefield and Miller at best give them a 60-40 chance to win every time they're out there. That's not good enough but with Clay Buchholz returning in August, the best plan might be to to just wait it out rather than trade anybody (namely Josh Reddick) for some fifth starter (Rich Harden, pukes).
Hosmer gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI double, followed by Jeff Francoeur's sacrifice fly (another guy I want no part of).
The Red Sox tied it up with two runs during their first at bats. Gonzalez had a sacrifice fly and Ortiz knocked in Pedroia with an RBI double.
Butler's two-run double in the second once again put the Royals up by two but it didn't matter. Pedroia cut it to 4-3 with an RBI double in the third and Ortiz drove in two with his RBI double to give Boston a 5-4 advantage.
A pair of homers: two-run by Gordon and a solo shot by Butler in the fourth sent Miller to a very early exit.
Carl Crawford drove in run with a bases-loaded walk in the fourth before Boston erupted for their accustomed big inning. This time it was six runs in the fifth. Drew Sutton had a sacrifice that turned into a pair of runs as the Royals made two errors on the same play (haha classic). Gonzalez had an RBI single, Ortiz had a two-run single and Reddick had a sacrifice fly.
Jason Varitek hit his sixth homer of the season-solo-off Worcester's Tim Collins in the seventh.
Mike Moustakas and Matt Treanor (say hi to Misty May for me!) both had RBI singles in the ninth off a fatigued Franklin Morales (who pitched 1.2 innings) but he was able to close it out.
Alfredo Aceves (6-1) improved to a ridiculous 20-2 in his career with another superb outing out of the bullpen. He went 3.1 innings, allowing three hits but no runs with no walks and three strikeouts. Aceves has won 15 straight relief decisions, the longest streak in MLB since 1967. The best part about him, outside of his versatility, is that he's a character on a team that doesn't have too many big personalities.
Bruce Chen faces John Lackey tonight in a battle of mediocre veteran starters. Woo, catch the excitement.
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