For Sox fans at Tufts, the headaches caused by spring fling hangovers were intensified by ugly pitching performances by Paxton Crawford and Derek Lowe. The Boston Red Sox dropped their second game in a row for the first time this year and two out of three to the Kansas City Royals over the weekend.
The warm weather seems to have caused Boston's starting rotation to take a vacation, as pitchers who have been solid all season fell apart this weekend. Crawford lasted only two innings in his outing yesterday, and Ohka earned his first loss of the season on Saturday. Even Pedro Martinez has had trouble finding his groove, and is only 2-0 in five starts this season.
The loss caused the Sox to lose control of the AL East, with Toronto moving half a game ahead with a win over Anaheim. Despite this weekend's pitching woes, Boston finished April with a stellar 16-9 record.
The Red Sox started the series with the Royals on a good note on Friday night, as Carl Everett led Boston to a 9-2 slugfest victory.
Manny Ramirez and Troy O'Leary launched back-to-back homers in the fifth inning to make it 4-1 Red Sox. Kansas City came back for one in the top of the sixth, but Boston broke the game open in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Trot Nixon and Everett's second grand slam of the week.
Frank Castillo continues to be a solid number three starter for the Red Sox. He secured his third straight victory by holding the Royals to two runs and six hits in five and one-third innings. Rolando Arrojo pitched the rest of the game to earn his third save.
On Saturday, it looked like the circus had come to Fenway Park and the clowns were playing in the infield. The Red Sox, who came into the game tied with the Seattle Mariners for fewest errors this season, committed five blunders in the first six innings as they handed the Royals an 8-2 victory.
The errors lead to five unearned runs, including the go-ahead run in the third. Kansas City's Mark Quinn had a home run and three RBIs for the Royals
Manny Ramirez went hitless to end his eight-game hitting streak. The Red Sox runs both came in the second on a Shea Hillenbrand triple that scored Jason Varitek and an RBI ground-out by Brian Daubach that sent Hillenbrand home.
The Royals took the lead on a Daubach fielding error in the third and added two runs in the sixth after an Ohka throwing mistake. Mike Sweeney made it 6-2 with a single in the seventh inning, and Kansas City got two more runs in the top of the ninth on the Quinn homer and an RBI double by Dee Brown.
Ohka (2-1) gave up four hits and one earned run in five and two thirds innings. Kansas City starter Dan Reichert allowed six hits over six innings to earn his third win in a row.
Sunday's game featured more plot twists, turns, and horrors than a Wes Craven movie. The lead flip-flopped between the two teams until the 11th inning when Kansas City's Joe Randa hit a three-run home run to give the Royals the victory.
The Red Sox opened the scoring in the bottom of the first when Ramirez launched a bomb over the screen on the Green Monster for a three-run homer in the bottom of the first. But the Royals exploded for six runs off Crawford in the top of the second inning, making the score 6-3.
Ramirez had his second homer of the game and ninth of the season in the sixth to knock Kansas City starter Brian Meadows out of the game. Kansas City made the score 7-4 with a run in the top of the seventh, but chaos broke loose in the bottom of the inning.
The Red Sox loaded the bases with no outs, and Ramirez grounded a fielder's choice to second that scored Stynes. When Royals shortstop Ordaz tried to throw out Ramirez, he missed and threw the ball into the dugout, allowing Nixon to score. Two batters later, Scott Hatteberg homered to center to give the Red Sox a 8-7 lead.
Ramirez's RBI was his 31st for the month of April, the most RBI in the month for a Red Sox player since 1949. Hillenbrand was four for five during the game and has hit safely in 23 of the Red Sox's 25 games this year.
But the see-sawing of the score did not end there, as Boston closer Derek Lowe continued his demise in the top of the ninth. He gave up a home run to Jermaine Dye to send the game into extra innings. Lowe gave up the homer to Randa in the eleventh.
Kansas City's Roberto Hernandez pitched the bottom of the inning for the save. Jose Santiago was the winning pitcher.
The Red Sox have an off-day tomorrow and will head to Seattle for a three-game series later this week.
