All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Royals, complete with BSJ analysis and insight
HEADLINES
Pivetta battles, but one pitch proves costly: As he's done for much of the season, Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta walked a tightrope in his outing. In his five innings of work, Pivetta didn't have a single 1-2-3 inning and every inning seemed to present a jam from which he needed to extricate himself. The only three runs he allowed came on one swing. With two on and two out in the third, Adalberto Mondesi launched a mammoth homer to deep right, measured at 464 feet as the ball traveled to the deepest reaches of the right-field bleachers at Kauffman Stadium. The long ball has become something of an issue for Pivetta in recent weeks. After allowing just two homers in his first nine starts of the season, Pivetta has been victimized more by homers of late. The homer by Mondesi was the seventh he's yielded in his last five, including a career-high of four in his last start. Both Pivetta and manager Alex Cora said Pivetta didn't make a bad pitch to Mondesi. "He put a good swing on a 96 mph fastball up-and-in,'' said Pivetta. "Those are going to happen. He kind of sold out for it.''
Andriese continues to struggle: With a day off Thursday to reset the bullpen -- and another one looming Monday -- Matt Andriese seemed like a curious choice to take over for Pivetta in the top of the sixth. At the time, the Sox trailed by just one run and while Andriese typically works when the Sox are behind, the fact that the game was within reach and other options available and rested. Sure enough, the move backfired when Andriese surrendered back-to-back two-out hits in his first inning of work for one run and then allowed a solo homer to Salvador Perez to open the seventh. Those two runs provided Kansas City with some breathing room. The Sox have been trying to get Andriese work here and there to get him going and build confidence, and from the dugout, Cora said the reliever's stuff looked improved. But surely, there are better opportunities than a one-run game in the sixth to deploy him.
TURNING POINT
In the fifth inning, the Red Sox loaded the bases and seemed poised to get back into the game with one big hit. Rafael Devers, who would homer later, was the man at the plate, but he went down swinging, stranding three. That proved to be typical of the Red Sox' struggles throughout the night -- plenty of traffic on the bases, but a failure to deliver the big hit when necessary. The Sox were 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight over the course of the game, including three in that inning.
TWO UP
Christian Vazquez: The Red Sox catcher hasn't shown much power of late, but he did show some signs of an offensive awakening with three hits -- all of them to the opposite field.
Alex Verdugo: Verdugo connected for singles in each of his first two trips to the plate and was robbed of a third hit in the seventh when Royals first baseman Carlos Santana made a fine diving stop.
ONE DOWN
Yachsel Rios: Making his second appearance since joining the Sox earlier in the week, Rios issued a leadoff walk, and two batters later, walked the No.9 hitter -- hardly the route to success for a reliever.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"I think it's just one of those plays that, in the moment, works out (for them).'' Christian Arroyo, on being thrown out at the plate when the Royals decided to give up going for a double play in the third inning and instead threw home.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* In addition to snapping a three-game winning streak, the loss was the first for the Red Sox in KC in their last seven tries.
* J.D. Martinez extended his hitting streak to eight straight with a fifth-inning single.
* The first eight Red Sox hits were all singles.
* The loss also snapped a six-game road winning streak for the Sox.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Royals continue their series Saturday at 4:10 p.m. with LHP Martin Perez (4-4, 4.52) vs. TBA.