Red Sox 6, Royals 0
Jon Lester dominated through eight innings and Daniel Nava drove in three runs as Boston completed a three-game sweep of visiting Kansas City.
Lester struck out eight while scattering four hits and has allowed a total of one earned run in 31 innings over his last four starts. Batterymate David Ross added a two-run homer and Jackie Bradley Jr. scored twice for the Red Sox, who have won four straight and seven of their last eight.
Yordano Ventura (7-8) started for the Royals and was knocked around for six runs on nine hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings. The rookie right-hander allowed a run in the first and two more in the third before letting things get out of hand in a three-run fourth as Kansas City fell for the sixth time in seven contests and dropped below .500 at 48-49.
Brock Holt and Nava led off the first with back-to-back singles before Dustin Pedroia’s RBI groundout opened the scoring. Ross and Bradley reached in the third and moved up on a groundout in front of Nava, who lined a ground-rule double into the seats down the right-field line to plate the pair.
Ross’s two-run shot into the “Green Monster” seats in left extended it to 5-0, and back-to-back singles by Bradley Jr. and Holt set up Nava’s sacrifice fly to cap the three-run rally. Ventura loaded the bases on a single and two walks in the fifth before being removed as Lester settled in on the other side.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Red Sox RF Shane Victorino went 2-for-4 and has three hits in two games since coming off the DL on Saturday. … Kansas City 1B Eric Hosmer singled in the sixth to extend his career-best hitting streak to 16 games. … Boston will begin a stretch of 13 straight games against AL East opponents with a trip to Toronto on Monday while Kansas City will also get back to division play at Chicago.