(Best E Casino) - The
Kansas City Royals hurt the playoff chances of one American League team this past weekend. The young and improving club will attempt to do the same to the hopes of the
Boston Red Sox when these two teams begin a three-game set tonight at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals got their current nine-game homestand off to a fine start, as the team tuned up for this series by taking two of three tests from AL Central contender Chicago. In Sunday's finale, Kansas City pounded out 19 hits against White Sox pitching to cruise to a 14-3 victory.
That loss, coupled with Minnesota's win over Cleveland on Sunday, moved the Twins past Chicago and into first place in the Central standings.
Mike Aviles went 4-for-4 with a home run and three RBI to lead Kansas City's offensive outburst, while Zack Greinke threw 6 1/3 solid innings before being ejected for hitting Nick Swisher with a pitch in apparent retaliation for a benches-clearing fracas that occurred earlier in the game.
In the bottom of the fifth, Royals catcher Miguel Olivo was hit on the wrist by D.J. Carrasco and began to charge the mound. After being grabbed from behind by A.J. Pierzynski, Olivo swung and hit the White Sox catcher as both teams' benches rushed out on to the field.
Greinke (9-7) had held Chicago to two runs and struck out six before being removed from the contest.
Olivo knocked in three runs to help the Royals win for the sixth time in seven games, while Billy Butler went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a pair of RBI.
Boston comes in leading the White Sox by two games for the top spot in the AL Wild Card race and is three back of first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East standings. The Red Sox are also 3-0 in the post-Manny Ramirez era following this weekend's home sweep of the Oakland Athletics.
The Red Sox downed the A's for a third straight day with Sunday's 5-2 decision, highlighted by a strong effort on the mound from starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Matsuzaka (12-2) worked the first six innings and yielded just two runs on four hits while striking out eight. Jonathan Papelbon preserved the victory and recorded his 31st save of the year by tossing a 1-2-3 ninth.
Jason Bay, the player acquired by Boston to replace Ramirez as part of Thursday's three-team trade that sent the disgruntled slugger to the Dodgers, finished 2-for-4 and scored twice in Sunday's win. The former Pittsburgh Pirate went 4-for-11 with a homer and six runs scored for the series, his first in a Red Sox uniform.
Jed Lowrie added a two-run triple for Boston, while Kevin Youkilis had an RBI double among his two hits.
The Red Sox' high-powered offense will be matched up against a red-hot pitcher in tonight's opener. Kansas City's Gil Meche has won three straight starts and allowed just three runs in 20 1/3 innings over his impressive run. Since June 10, the right-hander has gone 6-1 with a 2.66 earned run average in 10 outings.
Meche was sharp yet again during Tuesday's encounter at Oakland, surrendering just two runs and five hits while fanning eight to lead the Royals to a 5-2 win.
The 29-year-old is 4-2 with a 3.69 ERA through eight career starts against Boston, but suffered a hard-luck defeat at Fenway Park earlier this season. Meche gave up just two runs over seven innings in a 2-1 setback to the Red Sox on May 20.
Clay Buchholz takes the mound for Boston tonight and goes in search of his first win since May 2. The struggling rookie is 0-4 with an ugly 8.49 ERA in six starts following that last victory and spent nearly two months in the minors until being recalled in mid-July.
Buchholz was able to last 6 1/3 innings in Tuesday's matchup with the Angels, but he still permitted six runs (5 earned) and was hung with a loss.
This will be the first career start against the Royals for Buchholz, who is 0-4 with a 7.97 ERA in seven road starts this year.
The Red Sox swept a four-game series from Kansas City at Fenway Park back in May and have won seven of the last nine meetings between the teams. Boston won two of three games against the Royals in last year's visit to Kauffman Stadium.
