Red Sox fall into tie for AL East lead
July 10, 2009
BOSTON (AP)—The Boston Red Sox and their bullpen are stumbling toward theAll-Star break.
David DeJesus(notes) hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning as the KansasCity Royals rallied from an early four-run deficit and knocked the Red Sox outof sole possession of first place in the A.L. East with an 8-6 victory Thursdaynight.
Boston is 5-5 in its last 10 games and the bullpen has absorbed four ofthose losses.
David Ortiz(notes) hit his 300th career homer for Boston, which fell to 3-4 on its10-game homestand after splitting six games against Seattle and Oakland. Theloss, coupled with the New York Yankees’ 6-4 victory over Minnesota, has theteams tied with three games remaining before the All-Star break.
“Those guys just bounced back tonight and scored runs at the right time,”Ortiz said. “The Yankees are not a surprise. They are playing great.”
Luke Hochevar(notes) (5-3) won for the fifth time in seven starts, despite allowingnine hits and five runs in six innings. Joakim Soria(notes) recorded four outs for his14th save.
“Late in the games, you can feel that Red Sox aura here,” DeJesus said.“But once we got Soria in the game, we feel confident he can do the job, and hedid the job as usual.”
Series at a Glance Kansas City 8 Boston 6 Thu, Jul 9 – Final Kansas City at Boston Fri, Jul 10 – 7:10 pm ET Kansas City at Boston Sat, Jul 11 – 7:10 pm ET
Mark Teahen(notes) and Willie Bloomquist(notes) each had three hits, and Alberto Callaspo(notes)had a pair of RBI doubles to help Kansas City avoid its third consecutive loss.The Royals also beat Boston for the sixth time in its last 23 tries at FenwayPark.
“We had some grinding at-bats,” Royals manager Trey Hillman said. “Guyssaw a lot of pitches and continued to battle.”
Boston’s bullpen combined to allow five runs in four innings after starterBrad Penny(notes) was staked to a 5-3 lead after five innings. He allowed three runsand six hits, and has only one win in his last six starts.
“There are times when things don?t always work out,” Justin Masterson(notes)said. “Lately, it has been a different guy missing on a different pitch at adifferent time.”
Trailing 5-3 in the sixth, the Royals scored four times to take the lead.Teahen led off with a double and after Manny Delcarmen(notes) retired the next twobatters, Callaspo knocked in Teahen with his second double of the game to makeit 5-4.
Masterson (3-3) relieved Delcarmen and Ryan Freel(notes) tied it after working thecount full and singling in Callaspo. DeJesus capped off the inning with atwo-run shot into the Royals’ bullpen for a 7-5 lead.
Boston Red Sox's Kevin You… AP – Jul 9, 11:12 pm EDT
“Our bullpen gave up some runs and when you look for four innings of reliefthat can happen,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “Masterson made a realgood pitch on Freel that falls and that to me is the big pitch.”
Willie Bloomquist added an insurance run for Kansas City with an RBI triplein the eighth off former Royals reliever Ramon Ramirez.
Boston threatened in the eighth when it loaded the bases off Juan Cruz(notes) on apair of walks to David Ortiz and Jason Bay(notes) and a fielder’s choice, but got justone run on Mark Kotsay’s(notes) sacrifice fly. Soria relieved Cruz and struck out NickGreen(notes) to end the threat. Cruz had retired 18 straight batters before walkingOrtiz.
The Royals scored three times in the fourth on four hits, two stolen basesand a throwing error by catcher Jason Varitek(notes).
“They definitely picked me up. That was huge,” Hochevar said. “We’ve beenswinging the bats well, but when you put up a 3-spot, that’s big.”
Boston’s Dustin Pedroia(notes) made it 5-3 when he hit his fourth home run in thefifth. He also keyed a three-run first when he doubled off Hochevar before beingsingled home by Kevin Youkilis(notes). Ortiz followed with a two-run shot—his 10th inthe last 29 games—to give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead.
NOTES: Ortiz became the 19th active player to reach 300 home runs, and firstfor Boston since Manny Ramirez(notes) did it in 2002. This was the first game betweenthe clubs since Boston traded outfielder Coco Crisp(notes) to the Royals in exchangefor Ramirez in November. Crisp is out for the season following shoulder surgery,while Ramirez has a 2.19 ERA in 37 appearances for the Red Sox. Mike Jacobs(notes) wasthe only Royals starter without a hit.
