KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The last-place Boston Red Sox took advantage of three critical errors by the first-place Kansas City Royals, pulling away late in a 6-3 victory Thursday night that ended a four-game losing streak.
Clay Buchholz (8-8) allowed three runs, two earned, over 6 1-3 innings for the Red Sox. He turned a one-run lead over to the Boston bullpen, and it preserved his sixth straight win against the Royals. Edward Mujica handled a perfect ninth for his fifth save.
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Kansas City’s advantage in the AL Central dropped to a half-game over idle Detroit.
Liam Hendriks (1-2) failed to last three innings while making a spot start for left-hander Danny Duffy, who is shelved with shoulder soreness. The Royals’ defense didn’t do Hendriks any favors, making all three errors in the first four frames.
Nearly every run scored in the game was a product of some sort of mishap.
In the second inning, Boston’s Will Middlebrooks doubled and then scored when Eric Hosmer allowed a two-out grounder by Christian Vazquez to get by him into right field. It was the Gold Glove first baseman’s third error in four games and his 10th of the season.
The Royals pulled ahead in the bottom half, getting a two-out double from Lorenzo Cain and back-to-back singles by Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki. On Aoki’s hit, Escobar rounded third wide, and first baseman Mike Napoli tried to throw him out. The cross-diamond throw nearly wound up in the visiting dugout, and the error allowed Escobar to trot home for a 2-1 lead.
Boston pulled back ahead in the third. Mookie Betts singled, Xander Bogaerts walked, and Yoenis Cespedes was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Hendriks walked Napoli to tie the game, and Middlebrooks singled up the middle to give the Red Sox the lead.
They added another run in the fourth, thanks in part to two more errors.
Kansas City pieced together a promising rally in the sixth. Josh Willingham was hit by a pitch leading off, and Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain hit back-to-back two-out singles to make it 4-3. But Buchholz bounced back to strike out Escobar and preserve the lead.
Jemile Weeks added a two-run double in the eighth to give Boston a cushion.
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