Final, Red Sox 4-3: Jonathan Papelbon has now converted 24 straight saves. He finished off a perfect ninth with a pair of strikeouts, which gives him 67 in 51 2/3 innings this year.
Solid win for the Sox. They limped into this trip and put forth a makeshift lineup, but got enough from Josh Beckett and Dustin Pedroia to make this a positive night.
They will try to make it two positive nights in a row Friday night when Andrew Miller makes a spot start opposite fellow lefty Jeff Francis. First pitch once again is 8:10 p.m., and I’ll be here to carry you through all the action.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 4-3: It looks as though Ryan Lavarnway’s major league debut will result in an 0-for-4 effort.
Lavarnway made a bid for his first big league hit but Melky Cabrera tracked down his fly to left-center field.
That turns us to Papelbon, who is 0-1 with a 4.05 ERA in this park.
End 8th, Red Sox 4-3: The Daniel Bard slider. It has to rank up there among the most impressive pitches in baseball.
Bard allowed one man to reach in the eighth, but finished off the frame with a nasty slider that got Jeff Francoeur swinging.
Jonathan Papelbon is next. He’ll put a 13-inning scoreless streak on the line, provided the Red Sox do not blow this one open right here.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 4-3: Josh Reddick draws a walk, against a lefty no less, before Carl Crawford flies to left to finally finish the top of the eighth.
Here comes Daniel Bard to replace Josh Beckett, whose line looks like this: 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K.
10:49 p.m.: Dustin Pedroia yesterday at Fenway Park: “We’ve got to go off on this road trip and swing the bats better.”
At least he heard the message. Well, it came out of his own mouth, so it was easy to hear. But Pedroia’s three-hit, three-RBI performance has him leading the charge tonight.
Pedroia just chased Blake Wood with a two-out double in the eighth. Prior to that, Adrian Gonzalez grounded to first. He is now hitless in 14 straight at-bats.
End 7th, Red Sox 4-3: Just swapping zeroes now.
Josh Beckett puts up another with a quick bottom of the seventh. At 110 pitches, perhaps he gets another inning. But since he hasn’t reached that number in any of his last four starts, it might be a good time to go all Bard and Pap on these guys.
Either way, a solid effort for Beckett, who is in line to go to 5-0 in Kansas City.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 4-3: A nice easy inning for Blake Wood and we’ve reached the stretch of a nip-and-tuck affair.
I’m actually going to stretch. Think it’s about time anyway, and by doing it now I can sing and not feel too stupid about it.
End 6th, Red Sox 4-3: Josh Beckett has just four strikeouts, but they’ve come in big spots.
He gets his third with no outs and one on in the sixth and then ends the frame with his fourth to strand a pair of runners.
Aside from those at-bats, the Royals are getting some good wood on some of Beckett’s offerings. It was a classic bend-but-don’t-break kind of thing in the sixth.
Beckett ends it at 102 pitches. Blake Wood, a righty, has taken over for the Royals. Jason Varitek leads it off.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 4-3: Give Luke Hochevar credit. He has hung around long enough to keep his team in this thing.
And when you look at the hits that delivered the runs for Boston, they weren’t screamers or gappers. Jason Varitek lightly deposited his RBI single down the line in left, and Dustin Pedroia’s two run-scoring hits were just slightly hard grounders that found some breathing room.
Hochevar’s 114th pitch gives Ryan Lavarnway his first career strikeout and probably turns this one over to a very good Kansas City bullpen.
End 5th, Red Sox 4-3: The Royals used some small ball in the first to pick up an early run on Josh Beckett.
It didn’t work as well in the fifth.
Mike Moustakas led off with a single and was bunted over to second. But Beckett got a big strikeout of the dangerous Alex Gordon and then induced a lazy fly to center off the bat of Melky Cabrera.
Beckett is at 82 pitches. Mentioned earlier that he has failed to go any longer than six innings in his last three starts, but he has a great chance to do that tonight.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 4-3: It’s Dustin Pedroia and everyone else.
Pedroia has three RBIs (just so you know, I’m told to write RBIs, even though the correct form is RBI) after knocking another single to center.
The All-Star second baseman drove in Jed Lowrie with the hit before being thrown out trying to take second on the throw home. That’s the second time the Red Sox have made an out at second base to end an inning after a run-scoring hit.
Lowrie was 4-for-29 since coming off the DL before his one-out double. Adrian Gonzalez is now hitless in his last 13 at-bats after striking out prior to Pedroia’s hit. It may be time to give Gonzalez a day off. Just that there aren’t many healthy bodies laying around.
End 4th, 3-3: Josh Beckett has a 1-2-3 fourth and finally picks up his first strikeout when he got Johnny Giavotella looking.
It says Giavotella was born in Louisiana in 1987, but I could swear he was living in the Bronx in 1934. Can just see him stealing apples from a fruit stand and handing it out to the fellas before another game of stickball. Good ole’ Johnny G.
OK, back to baseball. I guess.
Mid 4th, 3-3: Melky Cabrera has had a spotty, inconsistent career. One thing he has always possessed is a strong throwing arm, and boy did he just break it out in beautiful fashion.
Carl Crawford singled to right to lead off the fourth, snapping an 0-for-15 skid. Crawford then stole second and third before Mike Aviles hit a medium-depth fly to center.
Crawford tagged and took off but the throw from Cabrera was strong and on a line to catcher Salvador Perez, who absorbed a blow from Crawford to finish an inning-ending double play. Great defensive play on both ends for KC, and it just seems as if Crawford can’t get anything to go right, even when he does.
End 3rd, 3-3: Josh Beckett has now given up eight runs in his last eight innings of work, surrendering three home runs in that span.
The latest long ball was a rather impressive one, a two-run, opposite-field shot by Alex Gordon in the third.
Gordon reached out and got a curveball on the outer half and poked it over the wall in left.
Beckett later gave up a single and the final out was a long fly to center. He’s at 50 pitches.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 3-1: Luke Hochevar probably got some confidence against the Red Sox by getting the better of them July 28 in Fenway Park.
However, that confidence did him no good in the third.
With runners on second and third, two outs in the inning and Dustin Pedroia the batter, one figured that Hochevar would be extremely careful.
Instead, he challenged Pedroia, who knocked a two-run single to center. Josh Reddick, who was on deck, then came to the plate and struck out, although it was a nice nine-pitch battle that helped push Hochevar to 61 pitches.
End 2nd, 1-1: As we totally predicted, Josh Beckett rebounds with a quality bottom of the second.
He retires the side on a pair of fly outs to Josh Reddick and an easy grounder back to the mound.
Wish I had more for you right here. I could tell you about the time my top lip got caught in my lower braces in a collision playing hide-and-seek. Maybe another time.
Mid 2nd, 1-1: It was an inning for the young and the old.
Josh Reddick started off the second with a double. He was still there two outs later, one of which was a fly to center for Ryan Lavarnway in his first major league at-bat.
Then, up stepped the 39-year-old Jason Varitek, who smacked a hit down the left-field line. Reddick raced around to score about one or two seconds before Varitek was out at second base trying for a double. However, Reddick was just jogging in slowly at the time, unaware that it was that close.
So the run counts and Varitek has his 25th RBI of the season.
End 1st, Royals 1-0: The Royals can double you to death, sac bunt you to death, sac fly you to death and run on you. To death.
They did three of those things in the first to push over an early run. Alex Gordon doubled, moved to third on KC’s American League-leading 45th sacrifice bunt and scored on KC’s American League-leading 45th sacrifice fly.
Josh Beckett has now given up 11 runs in 24 first innings, an ERA of 4.13. He has allowed just five runs in the second and third innings this year, totaling 46 frames.
Mid 1st, 0-0: The scoreless streak for the Red Sox now sits at 14 innings after the crew wastes a leadoff hit and a stolen base for Jacoby Ellsbury.
Ellsbury managed to get to third with two outs but was stranded there when Dustin Pedroia couldn’t hold up on some junk in the dirt.
The steal by Ellsbury is his 169th. That moves him ahead of Carl Yastrzemski and into third place on the all-time franchise list.
Two of the outs in the inning were made by Jed Lowrie and Adrian Gonzalez. Lowrie is 4-for-28 (.143) since coming off the disabled list. Gonzalez is hitless in his last 11 at-bats.
8:10 p.m.: Luke Hochevar throws a ball to Jacoby Ellsbury, beginning what should be an interesting four-game set in steamy Kansas City.
7:55 p.m.: A couple more quick links for you.
First off, I wondered how much the loss of Kevin Youkilis, and for now Marco Scutaro, could impact the infield defense.
Also, it’s interesting to note that it was Ryan Lavarnway’s bat that got him to the big leagues. He will serve primarily as a designated hitter. But back in January, he discussed the need to improve as a defender in order to make it to the bigs.
That remains the case. He’s more of a fill-in right now and will need to continue to develop as a catcher to become a full-time big leaguer.
7:21 p.m.: It’s hard to imagine where the Red Sox would be without Josh Beckett’s bounceback season.
Because of that, you have to hope his recent run of mediocrity (relatively speaking, of course) is just a little snag.
Beckett is 0-2 with a 4.13 ERA in his last four starts, giving up six home runs along the way. In those outings, he has lasted seven, six, six and five innings, respectively, so he is not giving the kind of innings he was earlier on in the season. And he’s going the wrong way in that regard.
It may not mean a thing and the way he shook off that miserable first inning in Seattle the other night at least gave him a strong finish to that one. However, with the offense in a bit of a rut and missing two key cogs, and the team mired in its first dry spell in quite some time, it’s a good night for Beckett to return to dominance.
The righty has had plenty of success against the Royals. He is 6-1 with a 2.44 ERA in nine career starts vs. KC, and 4-0 with a 2.93 mark at Kauffman Stadium.
6:52 p.m.: It’s time to pass on a few links for your enjoyment.
Earlier, I took a quick look at the remarkable disparity between Jacoby Ellsbury’s last visit to Kansas City and this one.
We also have a take on what Ryan Lavarnway’s presence could mean, both now and going forward.
I also had a quick examination of the potential danger that lurks for the Red Sox on this road trip.
In case you missed it, here is last night’s take on the effect of the dog days on the club.
Also, if you want to jump around from sport to sport tonight, don’t miss Jeff Howe’s Patriots Live Blog. The Pats are down in Tampa for their second preseason game.
5:43 p.m.: According to Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe, Randy Williams has been designated for assignment to make room for Ryan Lavarnway on the 40-man roster.
Lost in a lot of the excitement surrounding the Lavarnway debut is what the real condition is of Kevin Youkilis.
There are few players I admire more than Youkilis for the way in which he guts through so much. But he was shelved around this time last year with the thumb surgery, has had hip problems off and on and now the back has begun to be troublesome.
If you saw Youkilis run to first after a hit Wednesday against Tampa Bay, you saw a guy experiencing some pain.
Not to be all gloom and doom, but we didn’t think Clay Buchholz’s back would be such a severe, potentially season-ending issue. Same with Josh Beckett last year, when he lost a couple of months. Those are pitchers, so how they deal with back pain may be very different, but swinging a bat and diving around the hot corner can’t be easy when there’s pain in the back.
So all of a sudden we have a team without its No. 4 and No. 5 hitters, only one of which might return during this homestand. It’s begun to take on a 2010 feel with Terry Francona having to make daily changes in the lineup to get the best matchups he can. Reddick, Crawford, Lavarnway, Varitek, Aviles. Back in March, we didn’t think we would see those five names making up the bottom of the order in the heart of the playoff push. (Crawford and Varitek, yes, but you get my point).
3:45 p.m.: The Ryan Lavarnway era is about to begin for the Red Sox.
Terry Francona has confirmed that Lavarnway will take the roster spot of Kevin Youkilis, who is headed to the disabled list with a sore back.
With very few other options, if any, Francona gets Lavarnway right in there at designated hitter. Here is the lineup for the series opener in Kansas City:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Jed Lowrie, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Josh Reddick, RF
Carl Crawford, LF
Ryan Lavarnway, DH
Jason Varitek, C
Mike Aviles, SS
It’s notable, too, that Marco Scutaro remains sidelined. We will learn soon just when Francona expects him to return, as well as the corresponding move that gets Lavarnway onto the 40-man roster.
The seven Red Sox hitters who have faced Royals starter Luke Hochevar are a combined 21-for-51 (.412) with two home runs, five doubles and two triples, and that’s even after Hochevar shut down the Sox in Fenway Park last month.
The two who have not faced Hochevar are Lavarnway and Aviles, who is making his return to Kansas City, from where he was traded to Boston at the end of July. A homecoming of sorts for him.
Meanwhile, Josh Beckett, who was outdueled (slightly) by Hochevar in that meeting in Fenway, will take on the following batting order:
Alex Gordon, LF
Melky Cabrera, CF
Billy Butler, DH
Eric Hosmer, 1B
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Johnny Giavotella, 2B
Salvador Perez, C
Mike Moustakas, 3B
Alcides Escobar, SS
The man to watch is Cabrera, who is a .308 (12-for-39) hitter against Beckett. The rest of the lineup is just 8-for-49 (.162) with 17 strikeouts.
8 a.m. ET: Losers of four of their last five games, the Red Sox limp into an eight-game road trip Thursday night with a visit to Kansas City.
Boston managed just nine hits in a series with Tampa Bay at Fenway Park, capped by a 4-0 loss Wednesday afternoon.
If the run support remains hard to find, Thursday’s starter would understand. Josh Beckett has been given very few runs with which to work all season. He’s also been in a tiny funk, at least relative to the rest of his season.
Beckett is 0-2 with a 4.13 ERA over his last four starts. However, he is 6-1 in his career against Kansas City — 4-0 at Kauffman Stadium.
Luke Hochevar will be on the mound for the Royals. He outdueled Beckett in a 4-3 Kansas City win at Fenway on July 28.
First pitch is 8:10 p.m.
