Royals 8, Red Sox 6
BOSTON -- The Kansas City Royals hammered reliever Junichi Tazawa for four runs on six hits in the ninth inning to pull out an 8-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
The win, in a game played in mist and fog, gave the Royals a split of the four-game series, which started with Kansas City arriving in Boston at 6 a.m. Thursday and losing that night and the next by a combined 11-3. The Royals, runaway leaders in the AL Central, then won Saturday night and roared back Sunday to raise their record to 75-48.
Third baseman Mike Moustakas, who stroked an RBI double in the fourth and capped a nine-pitch at-bat with a solo homer in the sixth, went 10 pitches with Tazawa (2-6) before delivering a two-out, two-run, bases-loaded double in the ninth.
The winning rally started with second baseman Omar Infante hitting a fly ball triple that left fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. appeared to lose in the mist. For some reason, third base coach Mike Jirschele sent Infante home, and Bradley gunned him down trying for a home run -- the first of two Royals nailed at the plate in the inning.
Two straight singles followed and shortstop Xander Bogaerts went high into the air to spear a liner off the bat of left fielder Ben Zobrist. Center fielder Lorenzo Cain loaded the bases with a single, and first baseman Eric Hosmer tied it with a two-run hit.
The last-place Red Sox finished interim manager Torey Lovullo's first homestand with a 6-4 record.
Bradley, who had three hits, snapped a 4-4 tie with his second RBI double of the game off starter Edinson Volquez in the seventh, and an infield hit by third baseman Pablo Sandoval made it 6-4.
Bradley has 14 extra-base hits in his last 11 games, and his streak of 11 straight extra-base hits ended with a single in the ninth off Wade Davis, who got his 11th save. Right-hander Chris Young (9-6) got one out and picked up the win in relief.
Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez worked the first six innings, allowing two earned runs. He didn't walk a batter and has gone 75 straight hitters without issuing a walk.
The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on two-out RBI hits by Bradley and second baseman Josh Rutledge. Bradley's hit was his first double of the game.
Shortstop Alcides Escobar got the Royals on the board with a third-inning sacrifice fly, and a double error on the Red Sox was the key to a two-run third capped by Moustakas' RBI double.
The Red Sox tied the game after the Moustakas homer in the sixth, with designated hitter David Ortiz driving in one run with a sacrifice fly and right fielder Rusney Castillo tying it with a single after first baseman Travis Shaw doubled.
The Royals stranded runners on first and third in the seventh before the Red Sox regained the lead in the bottom half.
Catcher Ryan Hanigan opened with a single and rode home on Bradley's double down the first-base line. Rutledge, whose error was a key to the Kansas City fourth, bunted the runner to third and, after center fielder Mookie Betts lined out to right and Bradley didn't tag, Sandoval's roller became an RBI hit. Royals manager Ned Yost argued Sandoval ran inside the allotted baseline to first. Replays showed Yost was right but the play was not challengeable.
NOTES: The Red Sox sent RHP Matt Barnes, the starter and loser Saturday night, back to Triple-A and recalled RHP Jonathan Aro. ... Boston RHP Rick Porcello comes off the disabled list to start against the White Sox in Chicago on Wednesday night before the Red Sox go to New York for their first regular-season visit to Citi Field against the Mets. ... C Salvador Perez's homer Saturday night gave the Royals 96 for the season, one more than they had all of last year. ... Red Sox 2B Brock Holt missed his second straight game with an oblique injury. ... Royals RHP Kris Medlen makes his first start in 18 months when he faces the Baltimore Orioles on Monday to open Kansas City's four-game homestand. ... RHP Joe Kelly goes for his fifth straight win in Boston's opener against the White Sox Monday night. Kelly, who has evened his record at 6-6, has gotten 38 runs of support behind him during his winning streak.