 was tagged for five runs and 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings.Boston left-hander Drew Pomeranz (1-1) worked six innings, giving up all three runs of his runs in the first two frames. Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth for his eighth save and 299th of his career a day after his first blown opportunity this season.Unlike most of the early season games in Fenway Park, there was a summer-like feel with a game-time temperature of 86 degrees under bright-blue skies.Betts led off the fourth with a drive to center for his ninth homer of the season. Hanley Ramirez walked with one out and Martinez followed with a drive to center, tying it at 3.Betts connected again in the fifth, sending a drive just inside the left-field foul pole into the Green Monster seats. His third homer of the game also came against Duffy, driving a 1-2 pitch over the wall in center in the seventh.Kansas City closed to 5-4 on Cuthbert's homer in the eighth, but the Red Sox closed it out from there.The umpiring crew had four calls overturned - including two by first-base umpire Fieldin Culbreth.TRAINER'S ROOMRoyals: 3B Mike Moustakas returned to the starting lineup after just pinch-hitting on Tuesday. He was hit on the right forearm by a pitch in the series opener.Red Sox: Betts started for the first time since leaving Saturday's game with a tight right hamstring. ... LHP Eduardo Rodriguez was placed on the family medical leave list and RHP Marcus Walden was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket. Manager Alex Cora doesn't know if the lefty will miss his turn in the rotation.GET BACKThe Royals scored a strange run in the first.With Jorge Soler on second and Whit Merrifield on third and one out, Salvador Perez hit a fly ball near the triangle in center.Merrifield waved Soler back as he raced home. Soler was doubled up.Perez was credited with a sacrifice fly because Merrifield crossed before the double play was completed.ALLOWED BACKBoston right-hander Joe Kelly returned after serving a six-game suspension for his part in a brawl with the Yankees last month. He pitched one scoreless inning.UP NEXTRoyals: LHP Eric Skoglund (1-2, 6.23 ERA) starts Thursday afternoon at home against Detroit. He allowed one run in a career-high seven innings in his previous start.Red Sox: LHP David Price (2-3, 3.78 ERA) starts Thursday night at Texas in the opener of a 10-game trip, tying the club's longest this season. He is 4-5 with a 5.11 ERA in 14 career starts against the Rangers.)
Royals try to take series from sputtering Red Sox 1h ago• 3 min read BOSTON -- Danny Duffy has never beaten the Boston Red Sox, with the bulk of his poor numbers coming at Fenway Park. He is also winless in six starts this season.But Wednesday, the left-hander has a chance to finally beat the Red Sox and give the Royals the matinee rubber match of the three-game series as Kansas City goes for its fourth win in the last five games.Duffy, 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA this season, is winless in seven starts dating back to last year as he faces fellow lefty Drew Pomeranz in the finale. Duffy is 0-4 with a 6.75 ERA in six games lifetime against the Red Sox, but is 0-3 with a 7.97 ERA in four games at Fenway.Pomeranz is also winless this season, going 0-1 with 7.27 ERA in two starts since coming off the disabled list in late April. He is 0-0 with a 1.98 ERA in three career games (two starts) against the Royals.The Royals (8-21) survived a long battle at Fenway Tuesday night, winning 7-6 in 13 innings. Alex Gordon homered off Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel in the ninth inning, Kansas City went ahead 4-3 in the 12th, but Boston's Eduardo Nunez answered that with a homer in the bottom of the inning to tie the game again.Jorge Soler's three-run homer off Brian Johnson put the Royals ahead 7-4 in the 13th, and the Red Sox stranded the tying run on base after scoring twice in the bottom half.A wild win, with Brian Flynn picking up his first career save when Nunez hit a fly ball to the center-field wall."We just kept battling and battling," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "That's always been a hallmark of our team, no matter how difficult the times get. That's why I'm so proud of watching these guys." Soler followed a .316 April by opening May with a huge hit. He went 2-for-6 Tuesday.The Red Sox (21-8) have dropped six of their last 10 games and head out on a road trip after Wednesday's game.Among the many things that have gone right for Boston this season, the Red Sox defense has been near the top of the list. Not Tuesday, when they made four errors. They were also victimized by what amounted to a steal of home when Christian Vazquez threw to second for an out that was not recorded before John Jay (four hits, sacrifice fly) scored from third.Later, Vazquez used his mask to gather in a loose ball and was called for a rare catcher's balk."Awful. Awful," manager Alex Cora said after the game. "That was a horrible game. We were lucky we were playing 13 innings, honestly." After his first blown save of 2018 and his first in his last 18 chances, Kimbrel said, "I just made a bad pitch and he hit it out of the park." Both Wednesday starters come into the game one game under .500 in their careers -- Duffy 45-46 and Pomeranz 42-43.The current Royals are a combined 11-for-46 with no homers and three RBIs against Pomeranz. Salvador Perez is 3-for-5, Alcides Escobar 2-for-4 and Ryan Goins 2-for-5, while Lucas Duda and Abraham Almonte both 0-for-5 against Pomeranz.Jackie Bradley Jr. is 3-for-7 against Duffy, but Nunez is 2-for-10 and Xander Bogaerts is 2-for-9, although one of the hits is a home run.The current Red Sox have four homers in 84 at-bats against him.Mookie Betts, who missed three games with a hamstring issue, returned during Tuesday's game and went 0-for-2. For the Royals, Mike Moustakas, who suffered a right arm contusion when hit by a pitch Monday, was able to pinch hit.In an off-field move, coincidentally made with the team in Boston, the Royals released former Red Sox right-hander Clay Buchholz from his minor league contract as May 1 represented his opt-out day.
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