One reason is that for the first time in nearly a week the Sox had to dip into their thin bullpen a little early, with Daisuke Matsuzaka failing to get out of the fifth for the third time in six starts. As Boston waits on Ellsbury, it remains with just 11 pitchers.
Meanwhile, the Matsuzaka mystery continues. Both Terry Francona and pitching coach John Farrell talked about his lack of fastball command, which was pretty obvious to anyone who witness the eight walks, one hit batter and one wild pitch.
We will have more on Dice-K's night in a separate piece, so look for that. And look for the live blog to take you through Friday night's game, which will feature Tim Wakefield going up against Kyle Davies. First pitch is 7:10 p.m.
Final, Royals 4-3: After going 12-7 in seven straight series against winning teams — including three division leaders — the Red Sox suffer a deflating setback in the opener of four straight against the lowly Kansas City Royals.
The one encouraging sign from Boston's 1-2-3 ninth was the fact that Victor Martinez made an appearance as a pinch hitter. He grounded to second to end the game.
The story of the game is Daisuke Matsuzaka's meltdown in the fifth. He walked five in the frame and a career high-tying eight overall. We'll head down to hear from Dice and the rest of the crew.
Mid 9th, Royals 4-3: Bill Hall nets his ninth putout by tracking one down in the triangle in center to end the Royals' half of the ninth. Kansas City closer Joakim Soria is on in search of his 12th save.
End 8th, Royals 4-3: We warned you all about a letdown effort with the Sox facing a losing team for the first time since May 6. Perhaps it is just the Royals' pitching, but there certainly is not a ton of emotion in the park for this one.
Ramon Ramirez is on to start the eighth for the Sox. Joakim Soria is up in the Kansas City bullpen.
Mid 8th, Royals 4-3: Manny Delcarmen has quietly been spectacular this season. With consecutive 1-2-3 innings he lowers his ERA to 1.88. He has had some bouts of wildness, but with tonight's outing has three strikeouts against zero walks in his last three games.
Rookie right-hander Blake Wood is on for the Royals.
End 7th, Royals 4-3: There are shards of David Ortiz's bat spread across the Back Bay after he has an explosive groundout to end the seventh.
The Royals' bullpen is one of the league's worst with a 4.70 ERA, but closer Joakim Soria is a good one. Getting something in the eighth would be big for the Red Sox.
Mid 7th, Royals 4-3: It's officially a battle of the bullpens now as Robinson Tejeda jogs on to take over for Brian Bannister. Manny Delcarmen did his job for the Sox in the seventh by retiring all three he faced.
End 6th, Royals 4-3: The Sox get a single run for the third straight inning when Jason Varitek scrapes one off the Green Monster for an RBI double with two outs.
J.D. Drew, who singled to lead off the inning, was off on contact and came in easily when left fielder Scott Podsednik could not come up with the catch up against the wall.
Manny Delcarmen will be the third Red Sox pitcher of the night.
Mid 6th, Royals 4-2: The Royals get the run right back when David DeJesus doubles off the wall in the left, the big green one, to drive in Mike Aviles. Not sure if it would have mattered but Jeremy Hermida, who has been shaky at best in left field this year, let the ball bounce over him and back toward the infield as the run scored.
On another note, Bill Hall has eight putouts in center field. The major league record for putouts by an outfielder is 12, tied by Jacoby Ellsbury on May 20, 2009.
End 5th, Royals 3-2: A Bill Hall solo homer cuts the Red Sox' deficit in half and a David Ortiz infield hit gets the crowd just as excited.
Hall crushed the Brian Bannister offering over the Green Monster. Ortiz beat out a dribbler toward third against the defensive shift.
Joe Nelson is out to begin the sixth for the Sox.
Mid 5th, Royals 3-1: Daisuke Matsuzaka needed 41 pitches to get two outs in the fifth before he was removed. Reliever Joe Nelson needed two to get the third and final out.
Matsuzaka's five walks in the inning match a career high. It is the first time a Red Sox pitcher has issued that many free passes in one frame since Darren Oliver on May 11, 2002.
Addressing the media after his gem in Philly last weekend, Matsuzaka uttered these words: "Of course I knew all along that I hadn't allowed any hits but I also knew that I'm the type of pitcher that can lapse sometimes so I was expecting that they get a hit at some point."
Lapse he did in the fifth.
8:53 p.m. That near no-hitter is a distant memory now. The enigmatic Daisuke Matsuzaka completely lost it in the fifth, walking five and throwing a wild pitch before mercifully getting lifted in favor of Joe Nelson.
The Royals have a 3-1 lead and the bases are still loaded with two outs.
Matsuzaka's eight walks match a career high. He allowed just two hits.
End 4th, Red Sox 1-0: The Royals get a tough break when a grounder up the middle off the bat of J.D. Drew hits second base umpire Paul Schrieber and goes for a hit.
Kansas City was in position to potentially turn a double play (Kevin Youkilis was on first) as the ball caromed off the mound and headed for second baseman Chris Getz. But Schrieber could not get out of the way and it left runners on first and second with no outs.
Adrian Beltre stayed hot when he singled in Youkilis to open the scoring.
Beltre is now batting .515 (17-for-33) with 13 RBIs in his last eight-plus games. Quite a stretch for the Sox third baseman.
Mid 4th, 0-0: I upset some readers Saturday by mentioning that Daisuke Matsuzaka had a no-hitter going, obviously jinxing it. No need to make that call this time around. Matsuzaka gives up a single to Billy Butler in the fourth, again a base hit that was just out of the reach of shortstop Marco Scutaro.
Dice-K also walked a man and hit a batter to load the bases with nobody out, but a soft liner to Kevin Youkilis, a soft liner to Dustin Pedroia and a pop to Bill Hall in center helps the righty escape.
In a lot of ways it was a classic Daisuke Matsuzaka inning. Flirt with danger, but leave the mound unharmed.
End 3rd, 0-0: It's rare to see Jason Varitek as animated as he was arguing an out call at first base in the third. Replays seemed to indicate that Varitek beat the throw from shortstop Mike Aviles, but first base umpire Angel Hernandez disagreed. Terry Francona argued as well, to no avail.
Another close play at first ended the inning as Aviles went into the hole to snag a Dustin Pedroia hot shot and gunned it across to get Pedroia by a half-step.
Mid 3rd, 0-0: Eight of the nine outs recorded by Daisuke Matsuzaka have come in the air. A pop to third and flies to center and right get him through the third without a problem.
Matsuzaka entered with a 4-0 record and a 2.96 ERA in his last four starts at Fenway Park.
End 2nd, 0-0: We have one hit between the teams through two innings, a hard single up the middle by J.D. Drew, who has cooled off just a tad of late as he plays through a handful of lower-body issues. Drew is left at first when Adrian Beltre pops to first and Jeremy Hermida hits a little looper that shortstop Mike Aviles snags coming in.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Daisuke Matsuzaka needs just six pitches to cruise through the second inning. He had recorded the first five outs through the air before Jason Kendall tapped an easy one to third baseman Adrian Beltre for the final out.
End 1st, 0-0: Old friend Joe West certainly didn't want the first inning to go on any longer than it did. West, who is umpiring behind the plate, punches out David Ortiz for the third out.
Ortiz stood for several seconds with his hands on his hips before having a few words with West, who continues to have issues with the Red Sox' style of play.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Daisuke Matsuzaka played with fire a bit in the first inning but survived. He walked leadoff man Scott Podsednik, who stole second, and gave up a few long drives that failed to cause any damage.
Mike Aviles narrowly missed a home run down the line in left and David DeJesus sent center fielder Bill Hall to the cusp of the triangle for out No. 2.
Matsuzaka was not out of the woods, however. He also walked Billy "Big Donkey" Butler and saw Podsednik move to third on a passed ball. A pop to center got Dice-K out of the inning on his 25th pitch.
7:05 p.m.: The Red Sox are about to take the field on a glorious night at Fenway Park. All eyes will be on Daisuke Matsuzaka as he looks to build upon his outing Saturday night in Philadelphia, but some of you may recall the last time Brian Bannister took the mound at Fenway Park.
In a duel with Jon Lester, Bannister took a shutout into the eighth inning before giving up an RBI double to Dustin Pedroia and falling on the short end of a 1-0 decision.
6:20 p.m.: As this is being typed Jacoby Ellsbury is meeting with Red Sox medical director Dr. Thomas Gill, who will re-evaluate the tests that have been performed on the ailing Red Sox outfielder. While nothing official has been passed down in the way of a move, the Ellsbury situation does not seem to be improving in any way.
"We've gotta get to the bottom of this," manager Terry Francona said. "We're not at the bottom of it. We don't want to rush into putting him on the DL. At the same time he's not ready to play because of how he feels."
Ellsbury was activated from the disabled list Saturday after missing more than a month with four fractured ribs. He played three games, going 1-for-14, before feeling something in his left side while taking batting practice in Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
According to Francona, the 26-year-old outfielder's condition has not improved since the soreness first resurfaced.
"He's not feeling better," Francona said.
The skipper said they would seek second opinions or do "what's necessary" to determine exactly what the issue is. Until they get him back to full health or put him on the DL, they remain a man down.
It just has the smell of another trip to the DL, but we will alert you if/when we hear anything.
Fellow outfielder Mike Cameron is getting a day off after playing two straight. Francona has indicated all along that Cameron will get plenty of rest as he returns from an abdominal strain. The 37-year-old center fielder has not played in three straight games since beginning his rehab stint in the minors two weeks ago.
Francona said Cameron got through the two straight games just fine.
Elsewhere in the clubhouse sits Victor Martinez, out for the third straight game with a bruised left big toe. The plan is to sit Martinez one more game so that he is OK to return Friday when Tim Wakefield is on the mound.
Wakefield has thrown exactly one inning to Jason Varitek since 2005, in case anyone is wondering.
Martinez has taken swings, thrown and caught in the past day or so in order to test the toe. He has been available as an emergency catcher in case something happens to Varitek, but the club has been eyeing the Wakefield start as a good time to get him back healthy.
"The hope is, we'd really like to catch him tomorrow because of Wake. If he's not ready we won't do it," Francona said. "I think he'll be ready to catch."
Josh Beckett is still on track to throw a side session Friday.
Also on the injury front we just saw Jed Lowrie taking grounders at shortstop. I was right behind him as he walked back to the clubhouse and he was moving extremely slow, for what it's worth. He will continue to consult with team medical officials as he remains fatigued from time to time.
"I think he wants to know that he's OK so that it's a normal tired instead of something that's eating at him that was missed," Francona added. "Just trying to eliminate some of the doubts in his mind."
5:35 p.m.: We have some news and notes to go through, most of them on the injury front (Jacoby Ellsbury, Victor Martinez, Josh Beckett). I'll get you those in just a moment. For now, here are the lineups:
Red Sox
Marco Scutaro, SS
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
J.D. Drew, RF
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Jeremy Hermida, LF
Jason Varitek, C
Bill Hall, CF
Royals
Scott Podsednik, LF
Mike Aviles, SS
David DeJesus, RF
Billy Butler, 1B
Jose Guillen, DH
Alberto Callaspo, 3B
Mitch Maier, CF
Jason Kendall, C
Chris Getz, 2B
3:22 p.m.: As we await the lineups, I just thought I would share a personal tale. Driving up Centre Street in Jamaica Plain today I saw a car (Massachusetts plates) decked out with Royals stickers, hats and pennants, and the driver was honking repeatedly as if to say "Here come the Royals!!!" So, there's a few out there.
In all seriousness, it will be interesting to see how the Sox respond to a massive drop in the intensity surrounding this game compared to the previous 19 against winning clubs, many of them on the road. There is just a different vibe inside Fenway Park. Doubt it will happen, but there's always a let-down game or two throughout the course of the season.
11:07 a.m.: Daisuke Matsuzaka seeks an encore to his outstanding outing in Philadelphia last weekend when he takes the mound in the opener of a four-game series with the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.
The righty took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Phillies on Saturday before a soft single in the eighth ended the bid. He had to settle for eight shutout innings in a 5-0 victory that has been just one of several strong pitching performances for the Red Sox of late.
Boston's starters have strung together five straight quality starts and are 7-1 with a 1.60 ERA over their last eight outings. The combined effort has helped the Sox win five in a row for the first time all season and eight of their last nine overall.
Brian Bannister will toe the slab for the Royals, who snapped a three-game losing streak with a win over Texas on Wednesday.
