The Kansas City Royals came into Friday losers of six straight, 13 of their last 15 and having gone 9-19 for the month of August. They’d already lost 94 games and are on pace to finish 49-113, which would rank among the worst records in MLB history.
You’d think a team like that would be a welcome sight after the week the Red Sox just had, but at this point even the Royals are capable of making Boston’s life miserable.
The Royals laid a beating on James Paxton and the Red Sox Friday night, chasing the struggling left-hander after only four outs in what wound up being a 13-2 rout. Paxton allowed six runs over 1.1 innings, including back-to-back solo home runs in the bottom of the first before completely melting down in the second. Salvador Perez led the Royals by going 3 for 5 with two home runs and four RBI, and all told the Royals combined for 17 hits and four homers on the night.
It marked the latest in a string of short outings by Boston’s starting pitchers, who have now failed to finish five innings in six straight games. As a result the Red Sox bullpen was once again forced to pick up the slack.
The trouble started almost immediately for Paxton, who was taken deep by Bobby Witt Jr. two batters into the game. The 23-year-old superstar hit his 28th home run of the season, and then right afterwards Perez homered as well, giving him 20 for the seventh time in his illustrious career.
The Royals really got going in the second when Nelson Velazquez hit a leadoff double and then Drew Waters and Nick Loftin walked to load the bases with no outs. Kansas City then capitalized with an RBI groundout from Kyle Isbel and an RBI single by Maikel Garcia to make it 4-0, which prompted Red Sox manager Alex Cora to give Paxton the hook in favor of reliever Mauricio Llovera. Witt tacked on an RBI groundout and Perez an RBI single to score Paxton’s inherited runners, closing the book on one of the worst outings of the 34-year-old’s career.
While the Royals pounded the Red Sox pitchers, Boston’s offense continued to struggle against Kansas City’s Jordan Lyles. Despite leading the league in losses, earned runs allowed and home runs allowed, Lyles shut the Red Sox down for the second straight outing, keeping the Red Sox off the board until Alex Verdugo finally got ahold of a two-run home run with two outs in the eighth inning. Lyles finished with the two runs allowed over eight innings with four hits, no walks and seven strikeouts.
Factoring in his Aug. 9 start at Fenway Park, Lyles has now allowed six runs over 16 innings against Boston over the past month. To put that into perspective, Lyles allowed 23 runs and 10 home runs over 21.2 innings in his other four August starts against everyone else.
Things didn’t get any better after Paxton left the game. Rookie left-hander Brandon Walter came on in the third and allowed seven runs over the next four innings, giving up 10 hits and two home runs along the way. Joe Jacques finished things out with two scoreless innings, and offensively the Red Sox only managed five hits as a team.
Overall it was a night to forget in a season that’s rapidly slipping away. The Red Sox will look to regroup on Saturday, with first pitch against the Royals scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET.
The Red Sox brought back a pair of familiar faces as this year’s initial September call-ups, promoting infielder Enmanuel Valdez and left-hander Brandon Walter prior to Friday’s game.
Both prospects have spent time with the big league club already this season. Valdez played 33 games in the majors between mid-April and early June and batted .234 with four home runs, 11 RBI and a .684 OPS. He also has 10 home runs and an .855 OPS in 51 games at Triple-A.
Walter made six appearances out of the bullpen for the Red Sox in June and July and posted a 3.07 ERA over 14.2 innings. He has a 4.75 ERA in 89 innings with the WooSox but has been lights out recently, boasting a 1.42 ERA over his last six outings and 25.1 innings since going back to Triple-A.