A 4-0 lead in the second inning wasn’t enough for the Royals who lost that lead and the game to the Red Sox 6-4 in Boston Tuesday. Matt Stairs got Kansas City on the board with his 11th home run of the year, a three-run blast off Tim Wakefield.
In the third inning, Wakefield was taken deep by Chip Ambres, who hit his second home run.
Runelvys Hernandez had a four-run lead, but Boston was able to get to him in the fourth inning when Manny Ramirez connected for a three-run homer to cut the lead to 4-3. It was his 29th home run of the season.
The Royals held on to a one-run lead until the seventh, when Hernandez was replaced by rookie reliever Amiborix Burgos, who walked Jose Cruz Jr. to lead off the inning. Former Royals second baseman Tony Graffanino followed up with a single to score Cruz and tie the game at 4-4. Graffanino was traded to the Red Sox last month. Next up was another former Kansas City Royal, Johnny Damon, who also singled to give Boston a 5-4 advantage. With two outs, Ramirez drove in his fourth run of the game with a single and that was the final run of the game.
The Royals put two runners on base in the eighth and Mark Teahen led off the ninth with a walk by Curt Schilling, but Kansas City couldn’t get a run across.
The Royals have now lost five in a row.
