Veteran John Smoltz earned his first win with the Red Sox thanks to plenty of offensive support.  Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek and David Ortiz all homered, with Youkilis going deep twice, as Boston battered the Royals 15-9. 

Gil Meche made it just 3.2 innings as he allowed eight runs, six of those earned thanks to one of Youkilis’ homers in the second and another by Varitek in the third.  Both homers came with two outs as the Red Sox jumped to a 9-0 lead in the first four innings. 

The Royals got a run back in the fifth off of Smoltz and then went after reliever Justin Masterson again as the Royals lit him up with five charged runs in just a third of an inning.  In his two appearance against KC this weekend he’s given up seven runs on six hits in .2 of an inning.

Kansas City scored another run in the sixth and could have had more, but J.D. Drew threw out Miguel Olivo at home who hesitated on a ball hit to right field, thinking the ball might be caught.  At the time, the bases were loaded with one out. 

In the seventh and eighth Jamie Wright and Ramon Colon were each touched for three more runs as the Red Sox pulled away late securing the win for Smoltz.  Mike Jacobs and Jose Guillen homered in this game for the Royals.  Billy Butler went 3 for 4 with three RBI.