It has become a running theme in the past few losses dealt to the Red Sox by the Royals. A skillful Red Sox pitcher stumbles in a brutal first inning that ultimately shoots them in the foot as the game goes on.
In Game One of this series with the Royals, Boston sent John Lester to the hill and he promptly allowed 3 runs in the first inning handing the Boston offence a deficit that, against a surprisingly decant Kansas City defense would be impossible to erase.
24 hours later it was Jake Peavy who looked to remain undefeated in a Red Sox uniform. After 6 innings of action, Peavy had allowed 10 hits despite locking down in the 4th and 5th innings to retire 7 straight Royals in the middle of the ball game. But once he left, things got crazy as a 6 run 6th powered the Royals to a 9-6 demolition of Boston.
Now the Sox would snag the win in game 3 but once they rolled into the rubber match of this 4 game set perhaps the biggest example of a bad start pitcher came into existence.
After Boston immediately jumped on the board with an unearned run scored off a throwing error by KC catcher: Salvador Perez, the Royals struck back, setting into action a 3 inning gauntlet that would plague starter John Lackey for the entire duration of the game. They scored once in the 1st frame, twice in the second all before adding 1 more tick in the 3rd via a booming home run to left field.
"John took an inning or two to find his rhythm and his release point," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "Early on, he was fighting to get back in the count." and Lackey agreed.
"It was a grind early," Lackey said before eluding to the success he began to find later in the game.. "I found some things later in the game and got in a groove. But Shields was pitching well, so it was a little too late."
After all that had transpired in the first 3 innings of the game it seemed that Lackey would be done for the night but Farrell stayed with him and from then on, that move paid off. He would stay in the game all the way through the 7th inning, racking up 5 strike outs while still allowing just 7 hits. Lackey found his mark late in the game but in the end, the damage sustained before he did would be too much for Boston to erase.
But nevertheless, by the time we rolled into the 6th inning, the Sox did not know that and at that point they were intent at getting back into this game. With back to back walks handed to Boston hitting, catcher Ryan Lavarnway came to the plate with runners on 2nd and 3rd and two outs. He did not disappoint. In almost immediate reaction to NESN announcer Jerry Remy's exclamation that "the Red Sox need a hit right here," Lavarnway delivered cranking a liner up the left field line that stayed fair and scored 2. He had brought the game into a near deadlock of a 4-3 score.
But after Jacoby Ellsubury grounded back to the pitcher James Shields, the play was made at 1st base and the Royals got out of that 6th inning jam with the lead still firmly within their possession.
"They turned a couple of big double plays early and it's a credit to Shields for getting the ball to be hit on the ground," Farrel stated post-game.
After losing their first series in over 2 weeks, the Red Sox miraculously still sit 3 games up on the Rays (all be it, Tampa has lost 5 straight) for the lead in the AL East. But more importantly they have learned something in these last few series. Ball clubs with nothing to lose can be some of the most dangerous.
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