The Boston Red Sox Friday, June 7, 2019

* The Boston Globe At this point, Mookie Betts is trying anything to get some pop in his bat Pete Abraham Baseball players, a superstitious bunch, will do most anything to change their luck. So before Thursday afternoon’s game against the Kansas City Royals, Mookie Betts took a small sip of a Pure Green Wake Me Up Shot then poured the rest over his bat. Betts drew a walk in the first inning then belted a two-run homer to left field in the third to help the Red Sox to a 7-5 victory. Did a few ounces of ginger, lemon and cayenne help Betts get his season going? Something has to. It would be inaccurate to say Betts is having a poor season, not with an .849 OPS and his usual Gold Glove defense in right field. But Betts sighed when asked how he’s feeling at the plate. “Not that good,” he said. “Just been trying to grind and do what I can to help the team score some runs. It seems like everybody else has been plugging along and I’m bringing up the rear.” Never mind that Betts leads the Red Sox in walks and is second in runs and third in extra-base hits. He’s a tortured baseball artist who laments the failures far more than he celebrates the successes. “I feel fine physically. I’m comfortable. I’m just not doing anything right,” Betts said. “It’s been tough.” Betts was 2 of 11 in a three-game sweep of the Royals. But his homer tied the game and the Sox built a lead from there. Still, Betts left Kauffman Stadium a bit irked that a ball he lined to left field in the eighth inning was right at Alex Gordon. That would have been over his head last season. “I just have to live with that one,” Betts said. “I did everything right but get a hit.” Two hits over three days against one of the worst teams in baseball isn’t much to get excited about. But manager Alex Cora saw progress because Betts drew three walks and swung at pitches that were in the strike zone. “That’s something we like,” Cora said. “We’ll go home and hopefully he’ll hit a few line drives off that wall and get going.” Betts would like to see those good swings produce more hits and plate discipline is a good place to start. “It feels like it’s a matter of time when you’re swinging at good pitches,” he said. “Fortunately we have other guys in our lineup — Xander [Bogaerts], [Rafael] Devers and J.D. [Martinez] — you have to stop right now. They’ve been carrying us all year for sure. “I feel like I’m just not doing anything with the pitches that I’m getting. I have to keep taking good swings and hopefully that changes.”

Betts hit .346 with a 1.078 OPS last season, leading the Sox to 108 victories. Then came the World Series and a runaway victory for Most Valuable Player over the great Mike Trout. Betts also was the first player in history to win a batting title and have a 30/30 season. No player can expect to replicate that level of achievement. But surely it’s reasonable to expect that Betts will produce better over the final 100 games than he did over the first 62? “I don’t think it works that way,” he said. “That’s too far in advance. I can only control what I can control and that’s right now, the next game. “Expectations get put on you and that’s not always reality. I know what kind of player I am and I know what I can do. But you can’t let the outside expectations dictate who you are. You have to control that.” For Betts, that means approaching the game as it comes, doing something in the moment to help score a run or prevent one. Don’t look beyond that. “Be consistent. Be the guy who finds a way,” he said. “Right now I’m not necessarily doing that. But what I can do is score a run or get a hit or draw a walk.” The goal is not to return to the All-Star Game for the fourth consecutive year or win more awards. It’s to do as many little things that will add up to those big things. “That all comes at the end,” Betts said. “You hope.” One way to look at the 33-29 Red Sox is to consider that they’re still in the mix for a playoff spot with their best player resorting to Pedro Cerrano tactics in the clubhouse. If Thursday was the start of something and Betts gets going, anything is possible for this team. Durbin Feltman now about earning, not chasing the promotion Alex Speier A year ago, Durbin Feltman’s entry into the Red Sox system came with a countdown. The third-rounder, who’d been as dominant as any college closer during his three-year career at TCU, seemed certain to blitz to the big leagues. Some evaluators thought he had the stuff — a mid- to upper-90s four-seam fastball and a devastating power curve — to reach the game’s highest level as soon as 2018. While the Red Sox made a point of keeping him below Double-A in his first pro summer, it nonetheless seemed like a real possibility that — in a bullpen short of established late-innings options — Feltman had a chance to emerge as a big-league possibility by the middle of 2019. But need (real or perceived) does not dictate a player’s developmental timetable, nor does it alter the reality of the difficulty of professional baseball. Feltman’s first full pro season has offered reminders why so few players storm through the minors within a year of being drafted. “Everybody gets kind of a baptism by fire when they get into pro ball,” said Joe Oliver, Feltman’s manager in Double-A Portland. “I don’t know if it’s a fair assessment for him to think that he could blow through the minors. I don’t know exactly where it was all fabricated or where it came through, but he’s one year removed from TCU. . . . He’s been put on the fast track, definitely, but he’s starting to understand how difficult it is on a day-to-day basis.”

The 22-year-old, who had a 1.93 ERA with 36 strikeouts and five walks in 23⅓ innings in three levels of A-ball (Lowell, Greenville, and Salem) last year, has endured some sizable potholes in 2019 in Portland. In 18 games and 20⅓ innings, he has a 5.75 ERA with nearly as many walks (16) as strikeouts (21). “It hasn’t gone the way I’ve wanted it to so far,” he acknowledged. Yet Feltman believes that his season reached an important turning point on May 9. That was the day, after a third consecutive disastrous outing in which he collectively allowed eight runs and walked nine in three innings, a pitcher who spoke candidly of his appetite to get to the big leagues as soon as possible recognized that he needed to stop trying to overthrow while pitching for promotions. “I was just like, ‘I’m putting too much pressure on myself that I’ve got to make it now. I’ve got to focus on where I am now,’ ” said Feltman, who quickly recognized via video that he was pulling off in his delivery, resulting in his dramatic difficulties throwing strikes. “I kind of got ahead of myself a little bit. Since then, I was just, ‘Relax, and do what you do.’ Since then I’ve gotten back into the swing of things.” Indeed, Feltman has allowed two runs while striking out 11 and walking three his last eight appearances and 10⅓ innings. His velocity has been solid even if shy of where it was in college — his fastball has sat at 93-94 mph, topping out at 96 — and, at the encouragement of the team, he’s been focusing on pitch location. Feltman threw his fastball down in the strike zone, with his breaking ball diving below it for chases at TCU. The Sox want Feltman to focus on attacking at and above the top of the strike zone with his fastball, while landing his power curve (a pitch with high-80s slider velocity that has 12-to-6 downward break) either in the zone or just below it. “I’ve started throwing up in the zone a little bit more. Wherever he sets up, I throw at the catcher’s mask,” said Feltman. “I’ve noticed that it plays better up there. The worst they do is pop it straight up.” “That’s a huge, huge adjustment for him,” observed Portland pitching coach Paul Abbott. “Everything that’s been pounded into his head up to this point is, ‘Bottom of the zone, bottom of the zone.’ Now he’s starting to pitch to the top of the zone. It’s a big difference in your release point. He sees it and understands why we’re doing it. He’s getting there.” In short, Feltman is developing — the point of the minors, and part of the reason why the suggestion of a blitz to the big leagues was a bit misleading. There is more for him to do, whether locking in the consistency of his delivery to improve his command, continuing to gain comfort with different locations, and perhaps even working a bit more to incorporate a third pitch. He remains mindful of the conversations about the Red Sox big-league bullpen, and he likewise sees that teammate Darwinzon Hernandez has shuttled directly between Double-A and the big leagues. That is a path Feltman would love to travel, but he now recognizes that he’s better served focusing on his work in Portland than trying to dictate when he gets to Boston, a lesson that will soon be shared by the players whom the Sox took in this year’s draft. “You know there’s a chance, but at the end of the day, you have to perform well to get that chance,” said Feltman. “If you pitch well, you kind of force their hand. You can’t look forward to it. I feel like I did that earlier and that’s kind of why I struggled a little bit.” Rafael Devers is keeping it nice and clean around third base Nora Princiotti It has been more than a month since Rafael Devers made an error.

Devers’s last error was on May 2 against the White Sox in Chicago, and it was a costly one. He charged a slow-rolling ground ball by Jose Rondon with one out in the ninth and the Red Sox leading by one, and didn’t make the play, allowing Rondon to reach base. The White Sox wound up winning in a walkoff. Red Sox manager Alex Cora has said many times this season that Devers’s improvement is the result of offseason work and dedication to a more consistent routine, so he stopped short of saying that the mistake in Chicago sparked this month-long run of strong defense. Cora said he had conversations with Devers after that game about how he could be better at third — including the way he was holding his glove — but gave credit to assistant coaches Ramon Vazquez and Carlos Febles for working with the 22-year-old. “He’s fun to watch,” Cora said. “Whenever he makes a play, I keep telling Carlos and Ramon, ‘You guys created a monster.’ You see it. There’s a lot of confidence now.” Cora mentioned a play Devers made Wednesday night on a ground ball. It was 6-0 Red Sox at the time, so instead of charging the ball and going for a possible double play, Devers took a step back, fielded the ball cleanly, and made sure he got one out. In that situation it was the right play, and the type of routine decision that had eluded him early in the season. Devers is a confident hitter who doesn’t let mistakes in the batter’s box impact him on defense, but he does get concerned about errors. Cora said earlier in the year it would take Devers several innings to get over a bad play. Devers has 37 RBIs in his last 37 games and is batting .338 with 12 extra-base hits and 18 RBIs since May 19, so there hasn’t been much other than positive momentum either way lately. “He’s in a great spot defensively, he’s in a great spot all around,” Cora said. “Even in card games it seems like he’s kicking [expletive] too.” Devers is also lighter on his feet this season after prioritizing fitness in the offseason and slimming down in spring training. It’s helping him defensively and on the basepaths, Cora said, and generally giving him more energy. “It’s not like he was in fat camp or whatever they call it when he had to do extra conditioning, but he needed to lose weight,” Cora said. “Instead of just taking ground balls and hitting in spring training, he had to do a little bit more.” Most days, Cora said, he goes up to Devers and jokingly asks if he’s tired. The answer, lately at least, is always no. Waiting his turn The Red Sox used six relief pitchers Thursday, but one member of the bullpen who didn’t get in the game has been waiting a long time. Mike Shawaryn has yet to make his debut a week after he was called up from Triple A Pawtucket. “We’re winning right now, so that’s all that matters at the end of the day,” Shawaryn said. “I mean obviously it’s always great to have the opportunity to pitch, but you can’t really argue with the results.” Cora said Shawaryn could pitch Friday or Saturday against Tampa Bay. “You’ve got to keep the long guy,” Cora said about not using Shawaryn on Thursday. “We felt that we were scoring runs, and Mookie [Betts] goes deep and we’re right in the game, so you can’t burn your long guy. So we went with our guys and we kept him back there.”

Shawaryn said several teammates have helped him navigate a routine during the long stretch without pitching. He said he was excited enough getting called up in the first place that he hasn’t gotten impatient. “It’s kind of all been a whirlwind just getting called up here, just dealing with all that stuff and trying to soak it in,” he said. “I’m just kind of getting ready to pitch.” Shawaryn is from New Jersey, so his parents came to Yankee Stadium last week even though he didn’t end up pitching. They’re planning to come to Boston for the Tampa Bay series, too. Back spasms hit J.D. Martinez left the game with back spasms in the fifth inning. It was the third time Martinez has missed or left a game with back spasms since April 27. “It’s probably going to be a tough flight for him, but we’ll know a little bit more tomorrow,” said Cora. Cora said Martinez didn’t feel the spasms on a swing. Devers hit a line drive, and Martinez felt the sensation in his back when he turned to watch the flight of the ball. He told Cora, who said it didn’t make sense for him to stay in the game. The Red Sox were leading, 4-2, at the time. “Hopefully it’s nothing and he’ll be able to play during the weekend,” Cora said. Martinez has been having issues with back spasms since spring training, but Cora said they haven’t been difficult to manage. “Not really, but we don’t like it, obviously,” he said. “We’re treating it and trying to keep him on the field. We’ll see how he goes.” Martinez was replaced by Sam Travis, who went 0 for 3 with a strikeout the remainder of the game. To the nines Chris Sale’s immaculate inning Wednesday — nine pitches, nine strikes, three outs — put him in some impressive company. Sale joined Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, and Max Scherzer as pitchers who have accomplished the feat twice. Only Sale and Grove have done it in the same season. Grove had immaculate innings on Aug. 23 and Sept. 27, 1928, while pitching for the Philadelphia Athletics. “I was challenged to do it in back-to-back innings,” Sale said. “We’ll see.” . . . Rookie first baseman Michael Chavis was 0 for 4 and struck out three times. He is 15 of 76 (.197) in his last 19 games with 32 strikeouts. His batting average has dropped from .296 to .248 and his OPS from .986 to .802. With Mitch Moreland a good possibility to be activated off the injured list Friday, Chavis may soon be in a position of having to earn his playing time. On a roll The Red Sox have won eight of their last nine games against Kansas City and six in a row at Kauffman Stadium . . . The Red Sox have scored 31 runs in the last four games . . . Brian Johnson is scheduled to pitch Sunday for Pawtucket and is getting close to returning to the big leagues, Cora said. “It’s getting to the point where there’s going to be a lot of people getting healthy at the same time and we’re going to have to make some decisions,” Cora said. Red Sox complete a sweep, and head home riding some good vibes Nora Princiotti Sometimes the little victories within a win are more satisfying than the actual contest on the field.

The 7-5 Red Sox win Thursday at Kaufmann Stadium was unspectacular. But it completed a series sweep, required less than it might have out of the Boston bullpen, and included some positives on offense, all things the team will gladly take back home ahead of a four-game, three-day series against Tampa Bay. “It’s huge,” said Mookie Betts. “We’ll have some confidence going against a really good ballclub.” The Red Sox got only four outs from starter Ryan Weber, but pieced together the remaining innings with a bullpen rested after Chris Sale’s complete-game shutout Wednesday night. The Royals scored two runs off Weber in the second, a solo home run for Cheslor Cuthbert and an RBI double for Billy Hamilton, before manager Alex Cora took Weber out of the game for Colten Brewer. Weber had a stellar start in Toronto in his first outing after getting called up on May 23, but has given up 9 earned runs over 5⅓ innings since. Brewer (1-2) came in with men on second and third and one out, but got out of the jam. He went two innings and got the win. Marcus Walden, Ryan Brasier, Josh Taylor, Heath Hembree, and Matt Barnes combined for the remaining outs. The Sox couldn’t avoid going to Barnes, but did save Brandon Workman, which figures to help against Tampa Bay. “It wasn’t perfect. We wanted actually a little more from Weber, but it just didn’t happen,” Cora said. Walden and Taylor each gave up a solo home run, and Matt Barnes allowed a run on an RBI double to Jorge Soler in the ninth before getting the save, his fourth of the season, but the Royals were never seriously threatening. “We got 27, we got the lead, and now we move on,” Cora said. The bullpen had some cushion after the Red Sox scored four runs in the third off Royals starter Danny Duffy. Duffy hit Jackie Bradley Jr. in the helmet with a pitch to start the inning, then gave up a home run to Mookie Betts, a double to J.D. Martinez, and a two-RBI single to Rafael Devers. Duffy was hit in the leg by an Eduardo Nunez line drive in the second inning. He crumpled to the ground, then limped back to the dugout, but returned for the third. Betts, who has five home runs in 11 at-bats against Duffy, said it was hard to tell if the lefthander was impacted by getting hit. “I know his fastball was still kind of jumping out of the hand,” Betts said. “It’s just kind of tough to say.” The Red Sox had another big inning in the seventh against righthander Scott Barlow. Xander Bogaerts walked, then Barlow intentionally walked Devers to get to Christian Vazquez, who hit a two-RBI triple and then scored on a wild pitch. The Red Sox have scored 6.4 runs per game since April 29. Cora believes the offense has more to give still, but was encouraged in particular by Vazquez’ situational hitting — his triple came with an 0-2 count — and the big swing from Betts. One concern that popped up was with Martinez, who left the game in the fifth inning with back spasms. Cora said there was no big concern, though it was the third time since April 27 that Martinez has missed or left a game early because of the same problem. The Red Sox finished their road trip 4-2. They have won four straight after a season-high four-game losing streak and are 33-29, closing within 6½ games of the first-place Yankees. Cora was not yet ready to revel in a streak or worry about the standings, though. “We’ve got to get better,” he said said. “On Sunday, it seemed like it was going to be tough, everybody was talking about [us being] 10½ games back and all that stuff. We just have to play better. When we feel like we’re clicking and playing our brand of baseball then we’ll look and see where we’re at.”

Here’s a look at the players the Red Sox drafted on Day 3 Alex Speier Here’s a look at the players the Red Sox chose on Day 3 of the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft on Wednesday, when rounds 11 through 40 were held. 11th round: RHP Sebastian Keane, North Andover High School 18 years old, 6-3, 170 pounds Keane throws strikes with a fastball that reaches into the low- and mid-90s while also showing feel for a curveball and slider. Red Sox area scout Ray Fagnant described him as a pitcher with “good present stuff, but still tons of physical projection.” Keane has a commitment to pitch at Northeastern. 12th round: LHP Brendan Cellucci, Tulane University (sophomore) 20 years old, 6-4, 200 pounds 13th round: RHP Blake Loubier, Oviedo (Fla.) High School 18 years old, 6-5, 190 pounds Loubier, who has a commitment to Wake Forest University, recently worked out at Fenway Park. 14th round: OF/1B Jordan Beck, Hazel Green (Ala.) High School 18 years old, 6-3, 215 pounds 15th round: RHP Aaron Roberts, Desert Oasis (Nev.) High School 18 years old, 6-3, 220 pounds 16th round: OF Oraj Anu, George Wallace (Ala.) Community College 20 years old, 6-foot-3, 210 pounds 17th round: 3B Alex Erro, Northwestern University 21 years old, 5-foot-10, 180 pounds 18th round: C Jacob Herbert, George Jenkins (Fla.) High School 18 years old, 6-foot-2, 220 pounds Herbert went to the same high school as Brandon Howlett, a 2018 21st rounder who vaulted up Red Sox prospect rankings. He hit six homers while batting .590 as a senior, and he launched 15 homers during his high school career. He’s expected to sign. 19th round: 1B Joe Davis, University of Houston (senior) 22 years old, 6-foot-0, 230 pounds 20th round: RHP Reed Harrington, Spokane Falls (Wash.) Community College

20 years old, 6-foot-5, 200 pounds 21st round: RHP Dylan Spacke, Long Beach State University 21 years old, 6-foot-0, 180 pounds 22nd round: Dominic D’Alessandro, George Washington University 22 years old, 6-foot-1, 223 pounds 23rd round: OF Leon Paulino, Florida Virtual School (High School) 18 years old, 6-foot-3, 205 pounds 24th round: OF Dean Miller, UC-Riverside (senior) 22 years old, 6-foot-2, 235 pounds 25th round: SS Karson Simas, Clovis West (Calif.) HS 18 years old, 6-foot-6, 175 pounds 26th round: LHP Brandon Walter, University of Delaware (senior) 22 years old, 6-foot-2, 200 pounds 27th round: RHP Devon Roedahl, University of Houston 22 years old, 6-foot-2, 225 pounds 28th round: SS Daniel Bakst, Stanford University 21 years old, 6-foot-2, 190 pounds 29th round: CF Luke Bandy, Dallas Baptist (Tex.) University 21 years old, 6-foot-0, 185 pounds 30th round: 1B Nathan Martorella, Salinas (Calif.) High School 18 years old, 6-foot-1, 215 pounds 31st round: RHP Feleipe Franks, University of Florida 21 years old, 6-foot-6, 245 pounds The Red Sox took the University of Florida quarterback — the second time they’ve made such a move. The last time they did so, they drafted Jeff Driskel and signed him, essentially paying him for his rights should his football career not work out. But Driskel went on to complete his career at Florida and then to join the NFL, never playing a game in the Red Sox system. Franks announced via the university that he was “flattered” to be selected but that he’s “living out (his) dream” as the Gators quarterback. 32nd round: RHP Bradley Blalock, Grayson (Ga.) High School 18 years old, 6-foot-2, 190 pounds

33rd round: OF Thayer Thomas, North Carolina State (sophomore) 21 years old, 6-foot-1, 195 pounds 34th round: 1B Ryan Berardino, Bentley 22 years old, 5-foot-11, 205 pounds There are bloodlines, and then there is Berardino’s family connection to the Red Sox: His grandfathers are former outfielder Dwight Evans and longtime Red Sox player development coach, manager, and now consultant Dick Berardino. 35th round: RHP Chris Mauloni, Jacksonville University (sophomore) 20 years old, 6-foot-1, 205 pounds 36th round: LHP Caleb Hill, University of Montana (senior) 22 years old, 6-foot-4, 235 pounds 37th round: LHP Connor Prielipp, Tomah (Wisc.) High School 18 years old, 6-foot-2, 170 pounds 38th round: RHP Cameron Meeks, Sam Houston (La.) High School 18 years old, 6-foot-4, 190 pounds 39th round: RHP Sammy Faltine, Travis (Texas) High School 18 years old, 6-foot-3, 185 pounds 40th round: LHP Garrett Irvine, Riverside (Calif.) Community College 20 years old, 6-foot-0, 180 pounds * The Boston Herald Red Sox sweep away hapless Royals Michael Silverman Squeezed in between series against the AL East rival Yankees and Rays was this three-game set against the woeful 19-win Royals. When the Red Sox arrived, they had just won a game in New York to snap a four-game losing streak. Now, after finishing a sweep, the Red Sox have a four-game winning streak under their belts. They lose some, they win some, the Yankees and Rays are well ahead of them in the AL East, and the Red Sox are only four games above .500. They’ll take wins however and wherever they can.

Which is why the 7-5 matinee victory on Thursday felt like a bigger deal than most and very much worth the flight halfway across the continent. “It was big to get that last one in New York. … Our plan was to hopefully take all three, and we were able to pull that off,” reliever Heath Hembree said. “Now we’ve got some momentum going home now against Tampa, who’s ahead of us in the division, so we’re looking to take some games from them.” Manager Alex Cora did not much care to elaborate on the concept of momentum. “We’ll see tomorrow,” said Cora, who appreciates the fleeting nature of wins, especially this season. “Just keep playing good baseball, we’ve got to get better. On Sunday (before the win against the Yankees) it seems like it was going to be tough. Everybody was talking about 10½ games back and all that stuff. “We just have to play better. When we feel like we’re clicking and playing our brand of baseball, then we’ll look and see where we’re at. It might be eight, it might be two games, but we’ll just keep getting better and trust the process, and we should be there.” Taking advantage of gifts like this series will go far the rest of the way. Chris Sale did a huge favor Wednesday night when he pitched a complete-game shutout. With Ryan Weber starting Thursday, the Sox knew it would be a day of leaning on their relievers. They just did not expect the lean to begin in the second inning after Weber put them in a 2-0 hole one out into the frame. But despite allowing nine hits and a walk in the final 7⅔ innings, the six post-Weber relievers held the Royals to just two more runs while the offense went to work on a beleaguered Royals pitching staff that turned to its bullpen in the third inning. Colten Brewer, who earned the win, and his successor Marcus Walden, both retired the top two hitters in the Royals lineup for the final two outs of the second and fourth innings, stranding multiple runners. “(The bullpen) did an outstanding job, some big outs there with traffic, some swings and misses,” Cora said. “It wasn’t perfect. We wanted a little bit more out of Weber, but it didn’t happen. Then Brewer did a good job, then Waldy came in, did outstanding, then (Jonathan Taylor), although he gave up the home run, he gave us three outs there, it was huge. We got 27, we had the lead and we move on.” The Red Sox lineup again spread the wealth, with Mookie Betts (two-run homer), Rafael Devers (two-run single) and Christian Vazquez (two-run triple) taking care of production. The Red Sox scored 23 runs in their three games here. “We’re not there yet,” Cora said about the offense. “I do feel we put the ball in play in certain situations today, Christian late in the game with two strikes, obviously Mookie with the big swing.” Betts didn’t think there was much of a way to overstate the importance of winning all three in the heart of America. “Huge, have some confidence going against a really good ballclub in Tampa,” Betts said. “Drive the wave through this weekend.” Back spasms sideline J.D. Martinez once again Michael Silverman J.D. Martinez battled back spasms in March, April and May.

June is no different. After turning his head from second base to watch the flight of a ball, Martinez tweaked his back and had to leave the Red Sox’ 7-5 victory against the Royals on Thursday. “He’s doing OK,” manager Alex Cora said. “Probably going to be a tough flight for him. We’ll know a little bit more tomorrow. It wasn’t on a swing, it was when (Rafael Devers) hit that line drive, he turned around to see the flight of the ball, kind of he felt it and I was like, ‘It doesn’t make sense for you to keep playing.’ Hopefully it’s nothing and he’ll be able to play during the weekend.” Asked if it is becoming more challenging to manage the spasms in light of their frequent recurrence, Cora said, “Not really. We don’t like it, we’re treating him, trying to keep him on the field, but we’ll see how it goes.” Sam Travis replaced Martinez and was 0-for-3 with one strikeout. BETTS SNAPS OUT Mookie Betts entered Thursday’s game with just two hits, a single and a double, in his 20 at-bats on the road trip. The two-run home run he hit in his second plate appearance in the third inning off Danny Duffy felt particularly good because the usual offensive star has not been soaring of late. “Not that good,” Betts said of how he’s been feeling at the plate. “Just trying to grind and do what I can to help the team score some runs. Seems like everybody else has been kind of plugging along, and I’m bringing up the rear.” Cora sees signs of improvement. “Something I like the last few days is he’s swinging, swinging in the strike zone. He didn’t chase a pitch out of the zone. Obviously he squared that one off,” Cora said. “He’s swinging a little bit more in the zone which is good, so that’s something we’ll like and we’ll go home and he’ll hit a few line drives off that wall and get going.” The home run was Betts’ fifth off Duffy. “Put some good swings on some good pitches,” Betts said. “He’s definitely thrown the ball well against us. I’ve got him a couple of times, just a couple.” KC LIKE HOME The Red Sox have won their past six games at Kauffman Stadium, outscoring the Royals 55-21. They have won their past seven overall against Kansas City. … The 19-43 Royals are off their their second-worst 62-game start in franchise history. They are winless in their past 15 series. … Starter Ryan Weber is trending in the wrong direction. He gave up two runs in his 1 1/3 innings. After allowing two runs on 11 hits in his first four appearances and 11 innings, he has allowed nine runs on 13 hits in his past two starts and 5 1/3 innings. … Devers knocked in two more runs and has 37 in his past 37 games. In his first 24 games, he had three RBI. … The two-run triple Christian Vazquez hit in the seventh was his first three-bagger since July 29, 2017, also against the Royals. No other Red Sox catcher hit a triple in the interim.

EOVALDI WAITS The Red Sox will wait until Friday back at Fenway Park to map out a return to action for Nathan Eovaldi. There have been no setbacks with his health (late April elbow surgery), but the schedule in the second half of June, when Eovaldi likely can return, grows complicated with the trip to London and the two days off preceding it and one following the excursion, especially. “We’ll sit down tomorrow and we’ll go from there. Most likely he’ll go on a rehab assignment, but we don’t know when, we have to look at the schedule. It’s going to get tricky,” Cora said. “Have to map it out and see where we fit the guys and how we’ll use them, when everybody’s together tomorrow, we’ll map it out.” With an off day on June 20 as well, the Red Sox have plenty of time and ways to set Eovaldi on a five-day schedule. “It feels like we’re getting close to that (five-day schedule),” Cora said. “That’s why instead of going over the phone and texting people, everybody’s there, we’ll sit down with him, with (trainer) Brad (Pearson), with Dave (Dombrowski), and just map it out.” … Brian Johnson (left elbow) will make his next rehab start this Sunday for Pawtucket (Triple A). For the first time in a while, Cora reported some positive developments with Johnson, who has pitched just four times this season, the last time on April 5. “He was actually better on the last one so hopefully he can make some strides in this one — he’s getting close,” Cora said. “It’s getting to the point where a lot of different people are getting healthy at the same time, and we’ll have to start making decisions.” … First baseman Mitch Moreland (back) is expected to be activated for Friday’s series opener against the Rays. … Cora expects David Price will opt to pitch the day game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Fenway Park. The identity of the other starter is still to be determined. It’s possible the job could go to Darwinzon Hernandez. Rick Porcello is pitching Friday against Tampa Bay, with Eduardo Rodriguez slated for the Sunday afternoon series finale. … The immaculate inning Chris Sale threw Wednesday night was the second this season (May 8) which qualified him for an exclusive club. Only Lefty Grove has thrown two immaculate innings (Aug. 23 and Sept. 27, 1928) in the same season, according to Baseball Almanac. The only other pitchers with more than one immaculate inning to their credit is remarkably short: Sandy Koufax had three, the others with two are Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson and Max Scherzer. * MassLive.com Boston Red Sox rookie Mike Shawaryn patiently awaiting major-league debut Chris Cotillo The plan for the Red Sox heading into Thursday’s series finale against the Royals was simple: use starter Ryan Weber for as long as he was effective before turning to rookie Mike Shawaryn in long relief for his major-league debut. The actual game, however, dictated that Alex Cora manage his pitching staff differently. The Red Sox ended up using seven different pitchers in a 7-5 win, but Shawaryn wasn’t one of them.

After Weber allowed four consecutive hits to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead through 1 1/3 innings, Cora turned to reliever Colten Brewer to clean up the mess. Brewer retired the next five batters he faced, setting the table for Boston’s four-run fourth inning that forced Cora to go inning-by-inning with his most trusted relievers. “We felt that we were going to score runs. Mookie (Betts) goes deep, and we’re right in the game, so you can’t burn your long guy,” Cora said. “We went with our guys and we kept it right there.” That long guy was Shawaryn, who has now spent eight days in the majors without recording an appearance. He sat and watched as Boston lost two of three in the Bronx over the weekend before the Red Sox swept the Royals. “You can’t really argue with the results,” Shawaryn said. “We’re winning, so that’s all that matters at the end of the day. Whenever they call me, I’ll be ready to go. It’s fun winning.” Shawaryn has been available out of the bullpen in the last six games, but Thursday was his best chance to get into the action. Unfortunately for the rookie, Chris Sale saved the bullpen with a complete game shutout Wednesday and the circumstances forced Cora to go to guys like Brewer, Marcus Walden and Ryan Brasier in the finale. Shawaryn, who said he wasn’t more nervous than normal heading into Thursday, didn’t mind. “I knew I had a chance to pitch, just like all the other days,” Shawaryn said. “It didn’t shake out.” Shawaryn isn’t sweating when he’ll make his major-league debut. Instead, he’s enjoying getting to know his veteran teammates while adjusting to the luxury lifestyle of a major-leaguer. “I know at some point, my number is going to be called,” Shawaryn said. “You’ve just got to stay ready, keep working and get better every day. When they do call it, you make it count.” Shawaryn’s number might be called Saturday night, when the Red Sox need a spot starter in Game 2 of a doubleheader against the Rays. Though the righty would seem to make perfect sense for that start, he’s at the mercy of Cora’s larger plans for his staff and could make his debut at any time. “He could pitch Saturday,” Cora said, “or he could pitch tomorrow.” J.D. Martinez injury: Boston Red Sox DH day-to-day with back spasms Chris Cotillo Red Sox designated hitter J.D. Martinez is day-to-day after being removed from Thursday’s win with back spasms. Sam Travis pinch-hit for Martinez in the fifth. “He’s doing okay,” manager Alex Cora said. “Back spasms. Probably going to be a tough flight for him. We’ll know a little bit more tomorrow.” Martinez tweaked his back running the bases in the third inning when he turned to see where Rafael Devers’ RBI single would land while at second base. Cora replaced him with Sam Travis for his next at-bat. Martinez has dealt with back issues multiple times since spring training, missing two games in late April and four more from May 20-23. Cora doesn’t feel Martinez’s back has gotten worse over time.

“We don’t like it, obviously,” Cora said. “We’re treating him and trying to keep him on the field. We’ll see how it goes.” Martinez could return Friday, when the Red Sox open a four-game series against the Rays at Fenway Park. He’ll likely get a game off over the weekend because the teams are playing a doubleheader Sunday. Boston Red Sox use 7 different pitchers, Mookie Betts homers in 7-5 win to sweep Royals Chris Cotillo A day after the Chris Sale saved the bullpen by pitching a 3-hit shutout, seven Red Sox pitchers cobbled together a 7-5 win to clinch a series sweep in Kansas City. Ryan Weber, Colten Brewer, Marcus Walden, Ryan Brasier, Josh Taylor, Heath Hembree and Matt Barnes each went at least one inning against the Royals, with Brewer getting the win and Barnes recording his fourth save of the season. Weber, the starter, lasted just 1 1/3 innings, forcing manager Alex Cora to get 23 outs from his bullpen. After Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the second, Brewer replaced Weber and settled the Royals down by retiring five in a row. Mookie Betts tied things up with a two-run homer off starter Danny Duffy in the fourth and Rafael Devers hit a two-run double to give Boston a 4-2 lead. Walden worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth, then allowed a deep homer to Jorge Soler an inning later to cut the lead to 4-3. Two Kansas City singles and a wild pitch put two runners in scoring position against Ryan Brasier, who struck out Adalberto Mondesi to escape the jam. With two runners on in the seventh, Christian Vazquez split Billy Hamilton and White Merrifield in right-center for a two-run triple and subsequently scored on a wild pitch to give Boston a 7-3 advantage. Alex Gordon homered off Taylor in the eighth and Soler hit an RBI double to make it a two-run game in the ninth. Cora’s original plan was to use Weber for a couple innings before turning to rookie Mike Shawaryn, but Shawaryn was never used in a tight game and now could start during a doubleheader Saturday. Kansas City scattered 14 hits but was 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. The Sox outscored the Royals, 23-8, in the series and improved to 33-29. They’ll head home for a seven-game homestand against the Rays and Rangers, beginning Friday. Martinez removed from game with back spasms Designated hitter J.D. Martinez left the game in the fifth inning with back spasms. Sam Travis pinch-hit for Martinez. This is the fourth time Martinez has dealt with back issues since the beginning of spring training. He has missed seven games so far this year (three in late April and four from May 20-23) with tightness. Rays up next The third-place Red Sox trail the Rays by five games after both teams won Thursday, but they’ll have a chance to make up significant ground this weekend. Boston and Tampa Bay will square off in their third series of the year, playing a four-game series that includes the makeup of an April 26 rainout. Here are the tentative starters, though things are likely to change with how Tampa uses openers: Friday, 7:10 p.m. - RHP Yonny Chirinos vs. RHP Rick Porcello

Saturday, 1:05 p.m. (Game 1) - LHP Ryan Yarbrough vs. LHP David Price Saturday, 6:10 p.m. (Game 2) - TBA vs. TBA Sunday, 1:05 p.m. - LHP Blake Snell vs. LHP Eduardo Rodriguez Sox injuries: Moreland will be activated this weekend, Eovaldi likely to start rehab assignment soon Chris Cotillo The Red Sox will likely activate first baseman Mitch Moreland from the injured list Friday in advance of a four-game series against the Rays. Moreland has been out since May 25 with a lower back strain. He’s taking batting practice in Boston on Thursday and will likely see action against Tampa Bay over the weekend. With Steve Pearce on the IL, Boston will use Moreland and Michael Chavis at first base with Brock Holt and Eduardo Nunez filling in at second when Chavis plays first. Sam Travis is likely to be sent to Pawtucket to make room for Moreland. Eovaldi plan still TBD The Red Sox will meet Friday at Fenway Park to determine the next steps in Nathan Eovaldi’s rehab process. Eovaldi, who underwent surgery to remove loose bodies from his right elbow April 23, threw 73 pitches in a simulated game Tuesday in Kansas City. The next step is likely a rehab assignment before he returns to the rotation. “We don’t know when,” manager Alex Cora said. “We’ll look at the schedule. It’s going to get tricky here with the trip to London. We’ll map it out and see where we fit the guys. When everyone is together tomorrow, we’ll map it out.” Cora originally planned to map out Eovaldi’s rehab Wednesday night but decided to instead do it in person when everyone gets together in Boston. Johnson to pitch for Pawtucket on Sunday Lefty Brian Johnson (left elbow inflammation) will make a rehab start for Triple-A Pawtucket on Sunday. It will be Johnson’s fifth rehab outing since May 15. Johnson allowed one run on two hits for the PawSox on Tuesday in his best outing so far. “He was actually better in the last one so hopefully he can make some strides in this one,” Cora said. “He’s getting close. It’s getting to the point where everybody’s getting healthy at the same time and we’re going to have to make decisions.” Johnson’s rehab window expires next Saturday, so Sunday’s outing will either be his final or second-to-last rehab start. He is out of options, so he’ll likely be added to the active roster when the Sox deem him ready. Other injuries First baseman Steve Pearce (low back strain) has not yet started baseball activities... Reliever Tyler Thornburg (right hip impingement) could go on a rehab assignment soon... Swingman Hector Velazquez (low back strain) and infielder Tzu-Wei Lin (sprained MCL in knee) are also on the IL.

* The Lawrence Eagle Tribune A real reason for optimism after Red Sox sweep lowly Royals Chris Mason First things first: Yes, the Royals are an awful baseball team. They're sitting at 19-43 (deservedly) and represent the what-are-we-watching talent gap between the haves and the have-nots in Major League Baseball right now; Kansas City doesn't have a single starter with an ERA under 4.50. So the Red Sox did what good teams are supposed to do and throttled them in a three-game sweep at Kaufmann Stadium, outscoring the Royals 23-8 and winning a Thursday afternoon game where spot starter Ryan Weber only gave them four outs. But just because Kansas City is Kansas City doesn't mean that nothing can be taken from this week's sweep. There's still one real reason for fans to be optimistic: The bottom of the lineup is starting to swing it — and that makes the Red Sox a far more dangerous opponent. Just over two weeks ago, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Eduardo Nunez were both getting on base less than a quarter of the time. They weren't doing damage either: The tandem's OPS numbers both sat below .500, two of the lowest marks in the American League. They've raised those over .100 points each since and it's easy to see why. For the first time all season, Nunez is starting to sting the baseball. At least three left his bat at 100 mph during a 3-for-4 Thursday afternoon, and a comebacker that struck Royals starter Danny Duffy right on the shin registered 110; the numbers confirm the eye test, Nunez is hitting the ball hard. It's a far cry from the one-handed swings that made half-hearted contact early in the season. As for Bradley, after an offseason devoted to redesigning his swing, he's finally going the other way with ease. His newfound power has yielded 10 extra-base hits (six doubles and four homers) in the span 15 starts, and he's visibly more comfortable in the batter's box. An easy swing led to an opposite-field double that plated three runners in Kansas City. Michael Chavis and Christian Vazquez are both a little further up Alex Cora's lineup card, but got starts in the bottom third alongside Nunez and Bradley. Vazquez delivered the dagger in the series finale, an RBI triple that scored a pair, and the catcher's seven homers and 22 RBIs have already eclipsed totals from all of last season. Chavis is the one member of this bunch that's cooling a bit. Since the Astros put the book out on the rookie — elevate fastballs early and often — Chavis has struck out 32 times in 82 plate appearances. But he remains a threat to homer at any time, and with the rest of his teammates in the bottom third bringing their bats, Chavis will be afforded some time to work through his growing pains.

It may have just been the Royals, but the thump that the bottom third brought was real. * RedSox.com Red Sox 'pen pressed into action, stifles Royals Robert Falkoff To get out of Kauffman Stadium with a three-game sweep of the Royals and a four-game overall winning streak, the Red Sox needed to cobble together a strength-in-numbers bullpen effort that would at least hold Kansas City in check. Mission accomplished. Manager Alex Cora’s many trips to the mound paid off handsomely as the Red Sox used seven pitchers en route to a 7-5 victory. In the opening two games of the series, Red Sox starters Eduardo Rodriguez and Chris Sale combined for 19 strikeouts and no walks. On Thursday, however, a much different victory script was required that didn’t include dominant starting pitching. Starter Ryan Weber lasted just 1 1/3 innings, but a parade of relievers kept escaping jams and allowed the Boston offense to do its thing. Mookie Betts had a two-run homer and Christian Vazquez delivered a two-run triple as Boston surged back from an early 2-0 deficit. “The bullpen did an outstanding job,” Cora said. “Some big outs there with traffic.” The Red Sox looked to be in trouble when the Royals strung together four consecutive hits in the second off Weber. With two runs in and runners at second and third, Colten Brewer came on to strike out Whit Merrifield and retire Adalberto Mondesi on a fly to center. The Red Sox promptly struck for four runs in the third after escaping that jam. Then in the fourth, it was Marcus Walden to the rescue. The Royals loaded the bases with one out before Walden got Merrifield on a fly to short right and struck out Mondesi. It was that kind of slip-and-slide day for the Royals as the Boston relievers occasionally bent but never broke. “It was a bullpen day where we had to cover a lot of innings and each guy came out and did his job,” said Heath Hembree, who had his own escape act in the eighth when he came on with a runner at third and nobody out. Hembree proceeded to strand that runner at third, preserving what was then a three-run lead. “It’s huge,” Hembree said. “For the bullpen guys to be able to go out there and piece together a win, it keeps our momentum. It wasn’t always smooth, and we had to grind through some things. But we were able to get it done as a group.” Betts hit his two-run homer off Danny Duffy to tie the game in the third, and the Red Sox took the lead for good on a two-run single by Rafael Devers. “I’ve just been trying to grind and do what I can to help the team score some runs,” Betts said. The Red Sox (33-29) have gone 27-16 since their 6-13 start.

“We just have to keep playing good baseball,” Cora said. “We’ve got to get better. When we feel we’re clicking and playing our brand of baseball, then we’ll look and see where we are [in the standings]. Trust the process and we should be there.” J.D. Martinez leaves with back spasms Robert Falkoff Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez left Thursday's 7-5 win against the Royals with back spasms in the top of the fifth inning. With a runner at first and nobody out, Sam Travis pinch-hit for Martinez, who had doubled and flied to center in his previous two at-bats. Manager Alex Cora said Martinez felt something in his back when he was on base in the third and turned to judge the flight of a ball hit by Rafael Devers. It marked the third time since late April that Martinez has missed a game or left a game with back spasms. "It's probably going to be a tough flight for him, but we'll know a little more [Friday]," Cora said. "He turned to see the flight of the ball and felt it. Hopefully, it's nothing and he'll be able to play during the weekend." Martinez is hitting .296 with 12 homers and 33 RBIs. * ESPN.com Are the Red Sox ready to make a move in the AL East? The Rays stand in their way Joon Lee The first time the Red Sox played the Tampa Bay Rays this season proved to be the launching point from which Boston pulled out of its early-season slump. Including that three-game, mid-April sweep in St. Petersburg, the Red Sox -- who started 6-13 -- have since gone 27-16. Still, Tampa Bay came to Boston a week later and returned the favor, sweeping the Red Sox in a rain-shortened two-game set. Will this weekend bring another defining series? Before the Red Sox and Rays play four games in three days at Fenway Park, here's where the two teams stand. 1. The Red Sox have work to do In five games against the Rays, no Red Sox starting pitcher has allowed more than three earned runs. Even in their two losses, Boston's starters were solid: David Price allowed two runs in his six innings, a strong effort in which the offense struggled to a 2-1 defeat; and Chris Sale survived a shaky first two frames to go seven innings in a 5-2 Rays victory. Rafael Devers' anticipated breakout is happening now Since the up-and-down first month of the season, Red Sox starters have bounced back. Boston's pitching staff as a whole entered last month with a 5.00 ERA but posted a 3.99 ERA in May, up from 25th to 12th in baseball. Sale went from a growing concern to his old ways again, striking out 66 hitters in 38⅓ innings pitched, with a 2.82 ERA. Price has been the most consistent pitcher on the staff over the entire season, with a 2.83 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP, and he carried it through a tough April.

But the Red Sox have had some issues elsewhere. "Pitching, we're way close to who we are, although the results the first 10 or 11 days of the season, that wasn't us," manager Alex Cora said after last weekend's New York Yankees series, in which Boston lost two of three. "Defensively, we've been a lot better early in the season. Baserunning, the last 10 days have been sloppy. Offensively, although people don't see it that way, that's where we need to get better." The defense has made strides in the field, most notably by Rafael Devers at third base. The 22-year-old misplayed several routine grounders in April but took a large step forward in May, improving his footwork considerably while making several spectacular plays moving to his left. As for the offense, after sweeping the Kansas City Royals this week, Cora said the Red Sox are making progress, but they're still not quite where they need to be. Cora is looking to find more lefty-righty balance in his batting order. "When we decided to hit Mookie [Betts], Benny [Andrew Benintendi] 1-2, and then Raffy [Devers] fourth, Brock [Holt] sixth and JBJ [Jackie Bradley Jr.] eighth, you see the balance. It's good for us. "[Opponents] have to think about whether you bring out the specialist for the lefty or the righty because the lefty is right behind him." The offensive production did look good against the Royals, as Boston scored 23 runs in three games in Kansas City -- but again, it was against the Royals, who have the second-highest staff ERA in baseball. These are the Rays, who boast reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and the best pitching staff in baseball so far this season. While the Red Sox will miss Charlie Morton, who has posted a 2.30 ERA in 13 starts this season, they'll face off against Snell in the series finale. The 26-year-old lefty has a 3.22 ERA in eight starts against Boston in his career, but he has not faced the team yet this season. 2. The Rays have a new look -- again The Rays change the foundation of their roster frequently and in often surprising ways. So far this season, Tampa Bay's two biggest offensive contributors have been outfielders Austin Meadows and Tommy Pham -- both of whom were playing for different teams at this point last year. Meadows, who came to the Rays from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Chris Archer trade, was taken by Pittsburgh with the ninth pick of the 2013 draft, two slots after Boston selected high school lefty Trey Ball, who has a 7.58 ERA in 34 relief appearances at Double-A Portland this season. The 24-year-old played well in his debut last season in Pittsburgh, hitting .292/.327/.468 in 49 games there before the trade; but Meadows really has taken off at the plate this year, hitting .349/.424/.646 with a team-high 12 homers, 38 RBIs and 2.4 WAR, which has him tied for 16th in baseball. Pham also has continued his strong performance with Tampa Bay, building off the momentum following his July trade from the St. Louis Cardinals, when he hit .343/.448/.622 with seven homers in 39 games with the Rays. It has been more of the same this season, as he is hitting .293/.406/.471 with eight homers, 25 RBIs, nine doubles and two triples. Also worth keeping an eye on is rookie second baseman Brandon Lowe, who has impressed so far this season with a .272 average and 11 homers in 54 games and already is 3-for-10 with a homer against Boston. For the Red Sox, rookie third baseman Michael Chavis faces the Rays for the third time after making his debut April 20 at Tampa Bay with a double off Jose Alvarado in his first MLB at-bat, setting up the winning run. Chavis, named the American League's Rookie of the Month for May after hitting seven homers, is going through his first prolonged slump in The Show, hitting .107 in his past seven games.

3. This weekend could shake up the AL East race For the optimists who believe the Red Sox have underperformed so far this season, a sweep of the Rays would be a major step toward Boston eventually sitting atop the American League East. The Red Sox enter the series five games behind the Rays, who themselves trail the first-place Yankees by a game and a half. This weekend also gives Tampa Bay an opportunity to retake the division lead, while halting Boston's climb into contention. And if neither club can catch the Yankees, Boston and Tampa Bay also could be on a collision course to meet in the winner-takes-all wild-card game. For the Red Sox, a wild-card berth would significantly raise the level of difficulty in defending their World Series title -- but, say the pessimists out there, there's no guarantee they'll even get that far. The Red Sox enter the series in a virtual tie (they trail by a single percentage point) for the second wild-card slot with the Texas Rangers, who start a three-game series at Fenway on Monday. When Boston last played Tampa Bay at the end of April, the Red Sox left the series six games under .500 and 7½ games out of first place. Fast forward nearly a month and a half later and Boston has climbed over .500. Yet they're in just about the same place they were in the division. You'll often hear Cora and his players repeat, especially after a loss, that all wins and losses count the same, even if head-to-head matchups with division rivals carry significantly more emotional baggage. But as the trade deadline inches closer, the Red Sox will need to decide how much to stick with their current group of players and how much they'll need from the trade market. For one, closers such as Will Smith of the San Francisco Giants, Sean Doolittle of the Washington Nationals or Ken Giles of the Toronto Blue Jays could be options to add a lockdown arm to the current bullpen group after Craig Kimbrel departed as a free agent this past winter. Cora already has started tweaking his lineup, and the results from this weekend -- against a potential wild-card opponent and a key division rival -- could dictate the kind of changes still to come. * WEEI.com Mookie Betts' 'Wake Me Up Shot' leads to home run trot Rob Bradford "My bats need to wake up." It's what Mookie Betts proclaimed to the camera just before taking the field for what would be a 7-5 Red Sox win over the Royals in Kansas City. The Instagram post, constructed in the visitors' clubhouse, showed the Sox outfielder holding up a "Pure Green Wake Me Up Shot" a concoction made up of ginger, lemon and cayenne. It boasts 10 calories, six grams of carbs and now ... one home run. It just so happened that the day Betts decided to pour the drink into his bat instead of his mouth the result was a third-inning home run and the reminder that this is the guy who won last year's American League MVP. Betts' blast was just part of the equation when it came to the Red Sox' punctuation on their three-game sweep.

On the day after the Craig Kimbrel option left the building, the bullpen stepped up to piece together a game which was kicked off by starter Ryan Weber 1 1/3 innings. It wasn't comfortable -- as the Royals' 14 hits and Matt Barnes' one-run ninth-inning suggested -- but ultimately the seven-pitcher effort was enough. Offensively, Eduardo Nunez came away with three hits and a stolen base, with Rafael Devers and Christian Vazquez each knocking in a pair. But in the big picture, the awakening of Betts' bat should offer the most notable development. For the most part, it has been a season of good but not great for the outfielder, coming into Thursday hitting .270 with a .834 OPS and nine homers. Since being moved back into the leadoff spot permanent at the outset of the road trip, Betts had just two hits in 20 at-bats, drawing four walks. Compare his numbers thus far to last year and Thursday's reminder should add an additional jolt. Through his first 60 games played in 2018, Betts carried a .338 batting average, 1.113 OPS and twice as many homers (20) as this season has produced. The smoothie worked. Now we'll find out for how long. One year later, Durbin Feltman finally finding his true path to big leagues Rob Bradford Durbin Feltman looked up from watching an episode of HBO's "Chernobyl" and took a second to contemplate his lot in life. "Yup, one year ago yesterday." One day at a time is the mantra, but when you've experienced as much Feltman has since being taken in the third round of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Red Sox some reflection is warranted. "It’s been a whirlwind," he added. "You can’t expect this. It’s totally different from what I thought it was going to be." From almost the minute the relief pitcher was taken out of TCU the conversations started. The 2018 Red Sox could sure use some sort of bullpen savior and considering what Feltman brought to the table many believed he could fit the bill. And it didn't stop after that first professional season. The Grapefruit League schedule was immediately made more interesting when Feltman was dropped into big league games, with Red Sox followers who had just heard and read the stories of this closer finally getting a chance to put a face to their proclamations. No Craig Kimbrel? No worries. Feltman was on the horizon. All of it ... unrealistic ... unfair. "A little bit," Feltman told WEEI.com when asked if such narratives were tough to ignore. "Of course I wanted to be in the big leagues last year. Then coming into this year I wanted to throw really well because I want to get up by June or get there as fast as I can. If I don’t throw well it’s crushing because it’s going to delay me a little bit. Just kind of taking a step back and just enjoy it while I’m here. I know it’s different for everyone." The names of those collegiate pitchers who made the quick jump to the big leagues not too soon after being drafted are notable, if not plentiful. Chris Sale worked out well. Brandon Finnegan? He hasn't quite found his major league stride after being summoned to the big leagues by Kansas City the same year he was pitching for TCU. And then there is Carson Fulmer. That's the pitcher the White Sox took one spot after Andrew Benintendi in the 2015 draft.

One year after being taken with that No. 8 overall pick Fulmer found himself in the big leagues. Flash forward to this season and the former Vanderbilt star finds himself back in Triple-A, having compiled a major league resume that includes 32 appearances with a 6.72 ERA and almost as many walks (55) as strikeouts (69). The idea is to be put in a position where once you find your ticket to the big leagues, it's of the one-way variety. "There are just too many wrinkles for a young guy to go from college to the big leagues," said Feltman's current pitching coach at Double-A Portland, Paul Abbott. "But he's got everything you want." It's why the conversation was hatched to begin with. This was a pure reliever, with two lock-down pitches. And when Feltman dominated his first full season of pro ball, striking out 36 while walking just five in 23 1/3 innings with Single-A Lowell, Greenville and Salem the idea of advancement only became more and more intriguing. But along came the prerequisite adversity. After a decent start with the Sea Dogs Feltman ran into three horrific outings to begin May. Three innings. Eight runs. Nine walks. "I had that three-game stretch where I wasn’t throwing the ball close to the zone. I threw like eight straight balls," he remembered. "It was kind of mechanical. Flying off. Trying to throw it too hard and stuff like that. I settled back down, controlled my effort and felt like I got back into a little bit." But it was more than mechanical. It was the tipping point of a lot of things. A change in side-session preparation. The alteration of a breaking ball that now resembles more of a hard curveball instead of his slider. And, maybe most important, the realization that time was still on his side. "I had to start enjoying it, which was what I did last year," Feltman admitted. "That kind of settled me back down and got me going again." It was a message passed on by coaches and teammates, such as former big leaguer and current Sea Dog Brian Ellington whose message was clear and concise: "Slow your roll. Enjoy it while you’re here. Don’t try and push it. Don’t put pressure on yourself." Since the early May skid Feltman has been better, giving up two earned runs over 10 1/3 innings, striking out at least one batter in each of the eight appearances while walking three. A year later the conversation has changed, but the promise and potential haven't. That is what the Red Sox and their relief-pitching prospect can hang their hats on. "It will happen," Feltman said. A message to Chris Sale: Mea Culpa Rob Bradford This was Chris Sale's punctuation to his proclamation. He is still Chris Sale. The Red Sox starter threw his first complete game victory as a member of the Red Sox, needing 102 pitches to completely dominate the Royals on the way to his team's 8-0 win in Kansas City. There were just three hits, with 10 strikeouts and not a single walk. For the first time this season he almost touched 98 mph (97.7) while absolutely befuddling hitters with 35 slides, 12 of which called strikes. (For a complete recap of the Red Sox' win, click here.)

Oh, and along the way, Sale just happened to notch his second immaculate inning (9 strikes, 3 outs) of the season, becoming the first pitcher since Lefty Grove in 1928 to accomplish the feat twice in one season. It was that eighth inning represented all that is right with Sale. Changeup. Fastball. Slider. Slider. Fastball. Slider. Slider. Slider. Fastball. The only reminder we have of how far Sale has come this year is that 3.84 ERA sitting there at the end of this masterpiece. There is a reason is 47th among qualifying starters. That's where the Mea Culpa comes in. Listen, there was a reason we were questioning Sale's existence after six starts. Heading into May the Red Sox had lost all six of his starts with the lefty's ERA living at 6.30. It seemed fair to question if there was any impact from the shoulder issue of the year before. If there is a downturn in performance with an injury history residing in the not-too-distant past it's fair to introduce into the conversation. But Alex Cora and the Red Sox insisted there were absolutely no physical issues, pointing to Sale turning things around the season before on Start No. 7. Sure enough. The last six outings have resulted in a 2.28 ERA, with 78 strikeouts and just nine walks. During the stretch opposing hitters have managed just a .156 batting average. In the last month, only five starters have a better batting average against. While we celebrate what Sale has become, it is also in our right to look at the future with a wary eye. This was the same feeling we had while he cruised on into August only to hit that shoulder-induced bump in the road. Through 13 starts a year ago Sale was sitting at 81 innings with 1,299 pitches. This time around he is slightly shy of those totals, having thrown 77 1/3 innings with 1,265 pitches. Point is, this is still going to be about managing the pitcher. They need this kind of dominance going forward to get back in this thing. Fortunately, right now that appears exactly what Sale is ready to deliver. * Bostonsportsjournal.com In sweeping the Royals, Red Sox manage to win the ones they should Sean McAdam In finishing off the Kansas City Royals with a 7-5 victory Thursday afternoon, completing a sweep of the three-game series, the Red Sox deserve no medals. The Royals, just four years removed from their second consecutive American League pennant, are one bad baseball team, currently 24 games under .500 and 13.5 games in back of the next-closest team with a winning record in their division, which isn’t very good to begin with. There’s a strong chance the Royals will lose well in excess of 100 games and they’re probably at least two-to-three years away from being competitive again. So in taking three straight in Kansas City, the Red Sox merely did what they were supposed to do. But there’s value to that, too. Good teams — or, at the very least, teams aspiring to be good — need to take care of business. The American League schedule offers plenty of layups for the better teams in the league, and it’s imperative for those with designs on the playoffs to take what’s given to them.

The Sox did that remarkably well last year. In fact, when the postseason began, some wondered how the Red Sox would fare against the better competition since a good number of their franchise-record 108 wins came at the expense of the A.L’s also-rans. In their own division alone, the Red Sox went a combined 21-7 against the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays. That translates into a .750 winning percentage, which is part of the season the Sox were able to post a .667 winning percentage for the regular season. In fact, if you take all the games the Red Sox played against losing teams with losing records last year — both American and National League — the Sox played .761 ball (67-22). And if you narrow that further to teams which finished in last place, the Sox were, perhaps predictably, even more dominant: a combined 31-5 mark, which translates into a .861 percentage. Until recently, the Red Sox haven’t had that same kind of success this year, unable to kick around teams that they should. They’ve already lost as many games to Baltimore in two series than they did all of last year. They split a four-game set with a poor Detroit team and we probably don’t have to remind you of how poorly the year began when they were embarrassed three times in the first four games by a Seattle team which has since taken up residence in the A.L. West basement. Perhaps a winning percentage approaching .800 against bad teams wasn’t sustainable. But the Sox need to be better against the bad teams. The three-game sweep in Kansas City was a start. On Tuesday, they won the opener handily. On Wednesday, Chris Sale pitilessly toyed with the Royals, the way a cat does with a mouse before finishing him off. Thursday was more of a grind after Ryan Weber, filling in as spot starter, stepped in it on the mound, navigating just four outs. That required a tag-team effort from a half-dozen relievers to get the Sox to the finish line. A better team would have taken advantage of all the opportunities the Royals had. Kansas City actually out-hit the Sox, and by a considerable margin. But they could not get runs on the board enough, going 1-for-11 with RISP against the steady parade of Boston relief pitchers. And, as if often the case, the Royals eventually did themselves in with mistakes. They wild-pitched one run home. There was a moment of indecision between two of their outfielders, paving the way for a huge two-run triple by Christian Vazquez. And when the Red Sox didn’t have enough hits of their own, the young Kansas City pitching staff contributed six walks, providing the visitors with additional baserunners. Two of those walks led directly to runs, as did a hit batsman. Starting Friday, the schedule takes a tougher turn on the Red Sox, who host Tampa Bay for four, followed by four more with surprise wild-card entrants, Texas. After a brief respite in Baltimore, the Red Sox will then travel to Minnesota for three against the team with the best record in the league. Because the Sox have fallen behind not one but two teams in their own division, they can’t necessarily take the same approach they did a year ago when they kicked the stuffing out of lousy teams and merely had to hold their own against the better ones. At some point, the Sox will have to punch up, above their current weight class, to make up the ground they’ve ceded. But the three-game sweep of Kansas City was a box they needed to check. They’ll get no prizes, no pats on the back. But three wins — regardless of opponent — are always welcome.

BSJ Game Report: Red Sox 7, Royals 5 – Bullpen picks up slack as Sox sweep Sean McAdam Bullpen grinds one out: It wasn’t pretty, and the individual line scores look a little ugly. But collectively, the Red Sox bullpen managed to save the day on an afternoon when the Sox got just an inning and a third from their starting pitcher, Ryan Weber. Six different Red Sox relievers paraded out of the bullpen and while they allowed nine hits and three runs, they were able to stitch it together to help give the Red Sox their fourth straight win. Of the relievers who worked, only Colten Brewer (two innings), Ryan Brasier (one inning) and Heath Hembree (one inning) were unscored upon, but again, the relievers were able to limit the damage. Kansas City hitters were just 1-for-11 off the Boston bullpen with runners in scoring position and while they had only one 1-2-3 inning — provided by Brewer in the third inning — they got the big outs when they needed them. In all, the Royals stranded 10 baserunners, including six in scoring position. More balance from the lineup: The Red Sox have any number of hitters in their everyday lineup capable of carrying the team with a hot stretch at the plate. Mookie Betts has done it, J.D. Martinez has, too, and so have both Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers. But on Thursday — and indeed, for the duration of the three-game series – the Red Sox got contributions up and down the batting order. Thursday was yet another example of that. Every member of the starting lineup except slumping Michael Chavis had at least one hit and for the third straight time in the series, the Sox had multiple hitters knocking in multiple runs. Betts, Devers and catcher Christian Vazquez all knocked in two apiece, with the other run scoring thanks to a wild pitch. The more contributors, the better, since teams which are overly dependent on one or two hitters on a daily basis inevitably hit a wall when those featured hitters encounter slumps. Martinez exits with back issues: If it hasn’t already, this is starting to become a concern for the Red Sox. Recall that J.D. Martinez missed three games in Toronto on the last road trip in Toronto back of back spasms and the problem continues to occur periodically. He was held out of a game as a precaution in Houston after Toronto, but they’ve had to monitor it along the way. This isn’t anything new for Martinez – he battled the same condition last summer and still came close to capturing the American League Triple Crown while contending for the league MVP. But there are times in recent weeks where Martinez looks uncomfortable at the plate, and you can tell that he’s not symptom-free because Alex Cora hasn’t played him in the outfield. He’s started just 16 of the first 62 games, off the pace of a year ago. Of course, his primary value is at the plate, and even there, he’s not having the kind of year he had a year ago, with an OPS below .900 and a batting average of only .228 in his last 15 games. TURNING POINT: The game seemed in danger of getting away from the Red Sox early after the Royals pieced together four straight hits off Ryan Weber in the second, scoring twice and putting runners at second and third with one out. But Colten Brewer came out of the bullpen and struck out Whit Merrifield for the second out and got Adalberto Mondesi on a flyout to center, stabilizing things for the Sox. TWO UP Mookie Betts: Betts reached base in each of his first three trips to the plate with a couple of walks sandwiched around a two-run homer to left in the third inning. Eduardo Nunez: Getting a rare start at second, Nunez continues to show life at the plate, contributing three singles in four plate appearances. He also stole a base. ONE DOWN Ryan Weber: Making his third spot start for the Red Sox, Weber lasted just four outs, leaving too many pitches over the middle of the plate as the Royals connected for four straight hits in the second inning. QUOTE OF NOTE

“Obviously, it wasn’t perfect. It is what it is and we feel that going into the weekend, we should be fine.” Alex Cora on his bullpen. STATISTICALLY SPEAKING The game marked the sixth straight game in Kansas City in which the Red Sox have scored at least seven runs. Michael Chavis finished the series with eight strikeouts in the three games. Eduardo Nunez enjoyed his first three-hit game of the season. UP NEXT The Red Sox return home for an eight-game homestand, with the first of four with Tampa Bay at 7:10. It will be RHP Rick Porcello (4-5, 4.76) vs. TBA. * The Athletic Heavy hitters on a lighter pace: Struggles by the big bats have dragged down the Red Sox Jen McCaffrey After a disappointing weekend in New York, the Red Sox needed a sweep of the beleaguered Kansas City Royals. They got it. As they head home for a seven-game homestand, now four games above .500, maintaining that forward progress will be crucial. The Red Sox take on the Tampa Bay Rays, who are five games ahead of them in the division, for four games this weekend, including a Saturday doubleheader. Part of what’s dragged the Red Sox down to third place in the AL East is an inconsistent offense. Plenty has been made about the struggles of the pitching staff, especially early on, but manager Alex Cora noted last weekend that the inconsistency of the offense has been just as costly. “I think offensively, although people don’t see it that way, that’s the part that we need to get better,” Cora said. “We’ve got to put at-bats together and be that offense that we know what we can do. Coming into the season, there were two strong points everybody talked about — the rotation and the offense. The rotation struggled early, and I think the offense hasn’t been consistent as a group the whole season.” The Red Sox have gotten their offense from some unexpected places. After signing a six-year, $120 million extension this spring, Xander Bogaerts is hitting .297 with a .910 OPS, 18 doubles and 12 homers in 59 games so far. Christian Vázquez (.289 average, 814 OPS) and Rafael Devers (.316 average, .888 OPS) have also had breakout years offensively. But it’s the big bats, the ones who should be carrying the team, who are lagging. J.D. Martinez and Mookie Betts have quietly been having subpar seasons, at least by their own standards. Martinez, who’s been dealing with back spasms and left Thursday’s game with another flare-up, is hitting .296 with an .899 OPS, 11 doubles and 12 homers in 56 games. The numbers are clearly still very good on the surface, but when compared with last year, through 56 games there’s a noticeable difference: At this point a season ago, he was hitting .321 with a 1.041 OPS, 14 doubles and 19 homers.

He’s not close to the Triple Crown trajectory he was on at this point last year. Betts finds himself in a similar situation through 61 games this season. He’s hitting .271 with an .849 OPS, 15 doubles and 10 homers. Last year through 61 games, he was hitting .338 with a 1.111 OPS, 19 doubles and 20 homers. Again, Betts hasn’t been awful. He had a two-run home run in Thursday’s win, but he’s far from the American League MVP candidate of a year ago. Meanwhile, Andrew Benintendi isn’t viewed as the same caliber of hitter as Betts and Martinez, but he’s still the No. 2 hitter in the lineup and trusted in an important spot. In 56 games this season, he’s hitting .267 with a .779 OPS, 12 doubles and six homers. His season was so off from last year that Cora, who preached all offseason about his belief in hitting Benintendi leadoff, dropped the lefty bat back into the two-hole where he thrived last year, hitting .296 with a .918 OPS over his first 56 games. The collective woes of last year’s top hitters are part of the reason the club is hitting .261 with a .787 OPS, 117 doubles and 89 homers through 62 games. In 62 games last year, with each of those three hitting better, the club collectively hit .268 with an .801 OPS, 140 doubles and 92 homers. Those numbers don’t appear all that different, but there are other factors. Last year’s club grounded into 44 double plays through 62 games while striking out 479 times. This year, the team has hit into 58 double plays and struck out 509 times. Perhaps the biggest difference, though, is hitting with runners in scoring position. Last year at this point, the Red Sox led the league by hitting .294 with a .901 OPS with runners in scoring position. This year, however, they’re hitting .270 with a .801 OPS. They’re not taking advantage of opportunities with men on base in key situations. Last weekend in New York, they were 6-for-25 (.240). Yet in the just-concluded series against Kansas City, the Red Sox were 11-for-32 (.344) with runners in scoring position and outscored the Royals 23-8 overall. There were some promising signs against the Royals, although the Kansas City pitching isn’t quite the barometer against which you want to measure success. Nevertheless, a productive series at the plate can create momentum heading into a series against the Rays. At least the Red Sox hope so. The manager role has changed, so why are they still scapegoats for a team’s failure? Peter Gammons There was a time when being George Steinbrenner’s manager was always referred to as “a temp.” The managers didn’t laugh about it, nor did The Boss when we suggested his “you’re fired” routine was part of the inspiration for The National Lampoon Radio Hour, then Saturday Night Live. Bill Virdon was Steinbrenner’s manager on July 25, 1975, and the Yankees were eight games behind the Red Sox when they began a four-game series at Shea Stadium, where the Yankees were playing while The Stadium Babe Ruth Built and Horace Clarke Tore Down was being renovated. The Yankees won that first game, but Boston won on Saturday (and Rick Burleson made a heart-stopping play) to set up the Sunday doubleheader. Game one would feature Catfish Hunter vs. Bill Lee.

It was scoreless in the bottom of the seventh when the Yankees loaded the bases with none out. Now, as you may remember, Steinbrenner was serving a suspension decreed by then-commissioner Bowie Kuhn. But George was in the first row behind the Yankee dugout, and as Lee got the first out then the second out without a run, Steinbrenner crawled partway onto the dugout roof and began banging it. We never knew precisely what it was that he wanted Virdon to do, but Lee got the third out. In the top of the ninth, Fred Lynn reached on an error by shortstop Jim Mason, stole second and scored on Rick Miller’s single off Hunter, and in the bottom of the ninth inning, Lynn made an unforgettable diving catch in left-center. The final out was a foul pop between home and third; Red Sox third baseman Bob Heise made a sliding catch, leaped in the air, spiked the ball in jubilation and, as Boston catcher Bob Montgomery noted before catching the team bus to the airport, “the Yankees are now marked absent.” Not to The Boss’s liking. Indeed. Roger Moret shut out the Yankees 6-0 in the nightcap. Soon thereafter, Billy Martin replaced Virdon as manager. The pennant race was over. Billy and The Boss had a comical relationship. Billy pulled Reggie Jackson from a game in Fenway Park on national television in 1977, but Reggie hit three home runs in a World Series game that October as the Yankees won another championship. In 1978, Martin was fired and replaced by pitching coach Bob Lemon; Billy had a tearful “resignation” ceremony in Kansas City that July. The Boss once fired Yogi Berra 16 games into a season. Steinbrenner wasn’t alone; in 1988, the Orioles owner Edward Bennett Williams fired Cal Ripken Sr. after an 0-6 start and replaced him with Frank Robinson. We now are supposedly in an era when Theo Epstein, Brian Cashman, Mark Shapiro, Chris Antonetti and other baseball progressives have come to view their managers as key role-players in business organizations that are collaborative — where general managers and managers and players are interwoven in a tapestry of thought and open dialogues. Still, we have the National League East. There is no doubt that many pundits, fans and talk show hosts believed that this was going to be a powerful division, perhaps the best division of all. Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto in Philly. Patrick Corbin in Washington to join the Juan Soto generation. Brodie Van Wagenen bringing Robinson Canó, Edwin Díaz and Wilson Ramos to a new age of enlightenment at Citi Field. The Braves got Josh Donaldson and a warehouse of young stars, from Ronald Acuña to Mike Soroka. Then as the sun rose on Memorial Day, the National League East was a combined 12 games under .500; the only worse division was the American League Central. The NL East also had the worst run differential of any division, -97, 170 runs worse than the American League West. And so the division became Execution Row. In this era of talk radio and social (often anti-social) media, great expectations unfulfilled create greater disappointment and, at times, overreaction. It began when the Phillies first gathered in Clearwater with Harper, Realmuto, David Robertson, et al, as their September had been a disappointment. Their manager, Gabe Kapler, is unconventional, and there were discussions from the outset about his job stability, given the expenditures and the passionate edge to the market’s sports fans. Kapler clearly understood that managing in the I-95 Beltway between Queens, Philly and D.C. comes with heightened expectations. Curiously, despite the fact that Harper and Realmuto haven’t begun to approach their norms and Robertson has been injured, the Phillies are eight games over .500, and Kapler is managing a first-place team. Atlanta? Ownership chose not to join the free agent auctions, and Alex Anthopoulos chose to keep draft choices with his team in the midst of a long ban on international signings. And while the 33-28 record isn’t quite what they anticipated, the recall of Austin Riley and the development of their young pitching seemingly has their arrow pointing up. Meanwhile, the Marlins haven’t exactly publicly thanked Don Mattingly for putting his heart and soul into a roster that had recently dumped two MVPs and two other All-Stars. Mattingly has been patiently trying to

keep their young pitching stable. A few weeks ago, the wRC+ analytics had their lineup as the worst ever. Isan Díaz has started to heat up in the minors. The hard feelings the new organizational regime created have not disappeared, and while Derek Jeter’s demands for better performance on every front were understandable, as the Royals, White Sox, Tigers and Padres know, these overhauls are five-year propositions. And in Miami’s case, it will have to happen in front of crowds that would disappoint the University of Maryland’s lacrosse teams. Mattingly has said all the right things, enjoyed the young players, and has been left dangling, with a constant public reminder that his contract is up at the end of the season; firing Mike Pagliarulo as hitting coach was the front office’s clear statement about Mattingly’s role. The Marlins’ team slash line on Memorial Day morn was .233/.254/.325/.620; Zack Greinke’s slash was .320/.370/.720/1.090. At least the team was outhomering Christian Yelich, 35-20. The Mets and Nationals have been stripped by injuries and, in Washington’s case, a bullpen core between their starters and Sean Doolittle that has been dreadful. So for a 10-day period in the last two weeks of May, Mickey Callaway and Davey Martinez seemed primed for firing squads. The Mets had a five-game losing streak May 15-19, and when they returned to Queens, a Jeff Wilpon/Van Wagenen/Callaway meeting seemingly was the sign that someone — Joe Girardi, for instance — would be replacing Callaway. But the team won a couple of games, Rajai Davis and Carlos Gómez were heroes, and Callaway temporarily left the headlines. Until the next bumper thumper. Martinez seemed to be at any-moment status for days, in some reports held back only by ownership’s disdain for paying managers, hence the inability to hire Bud Black. Mike Rizzo came out and said “there are a lot of factors here, not just Davey Martinez,” and took a measure of the blame, but the cloud remains, perhaps until a POTUS tweet. “You look at what some managers go through and it’s clear that some (teams) feed the public notion that somehow a major league baseball manager’s role is similar to that of movie fiction,” says one ex-manager. “It’s always the manager’s fault. Very seldom is there much public discussion about the players, or who assembled the roster of players.” Indeed, when the Red Sox starting pitching was struggling in April and the defending world champions were at the bottom of the standings, one columnist wrote that Alex Cora needed to do a better job “motivating” his players. Today’s management is about collaboration, between ownership, upper baseball management, analytics, video scouting, managers, coaches, players. This spring Gerry Hunsicker, one of the most intelligent general managers of his time, talked about how the legendary Frank Cashen — and most of the general managers of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s — hardly ever talked to players. Hunsicker, now a senior advisor for the Dodgers, watched the daily spring interactions — from Andrew Friedman to Dave Roberts on through coaches to young players — and marveled at how realistic, intelligent management has gone from “my way or the highway” to “our way or the highway.” * The Kansas City Star Royals’ skid hits six games as Danny Duffy exits early, bats fail to deliver in clutch Pete Grathoff Royals left-hander Danny Duffy watched warily as manager Ned Yost ambled out of the Royals dugout on Thursday afternoon. It was the third inning of a game the Royals would lose 7-5 to the Red Sox at Kauffman Stadium, and about 20 minutes after Boston second baseman Eduardo Nuñez’s second-inning liner connected with the inside of Duffy’s right knee. Duffy fell to the ground and limped off the diamond after the Royals recorded the out.

Duffy gamely returned for the third inning but his first pitch would portend trouble ahead. Duffy unleashed a 90 mph fastball that hit Boston center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. in the helmet. Mookie Betts followed with a 398-foot homer that tied the game 2-2. Although Duffy recorded a strikeout after allowing a single, the Red Sox scored two more runs on a double and another single, prompting Yost to take the ball from Duffy. The Red Sox held the lead for the rest of the game, and sent the Royals (19-43) to their sixth straight defeat. They have lost nine of their last 10 games and 12 of 14. “My warmup pitches felt like the pitches prior (to the ball off the knee),” said Duffy, who said his knee was sore but fine. “But then the intensity ramps up. If I’m not finishing, it’s not going to work out. I’ve got to make adjustment and those adjustments were not made. “It’s a bummer the way it went down today, I really wanted to get this team a win today, I really wanted to start us off with a win going into the next series with a win and feeling good about ourselves. There’s not a whole lot to celebrate right now.” While Duffy was still touching 94 mph with his fastball in the third, he said his command was “brutal” and that’s why Yost called on Brian Flynn to relieve. Duffy, 3-3, allowed four runs on four hits with two walks and a pair of strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings, the shortest of his eight starts this season. Although the Royals staked Duffy to a two-run lead in the second inning on the third homer in six games by third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert and an RBI double by center fielder Billy Hamilton, they missed an opportunity on three golden chances to push more runs across. The Royals’ bottom four hitters had eight hits in 16 at-bats with a walk, two doubles and a home run. However, the top two hitters were 1 of 10. “The bottom did a great job,” Yost said. “I think they got, like, eight of our hits down there. They really did a good job of setting the table. ... When you get in those situations where the bottom of the order is setting the table for the top of the order, you’re generally going to be in a pretty good position to score some runs. We just couldn’t do it today.” After Hamilton’s double in the second inning, Colten Brewer replaced starter Ryan Weber and fanned Whit Merrifield and got Adalberto Mondesi to fly out, stranding two runners in scoring position. In the fourth inning, Cuthbert singled and took second on Nicky Lopez’s grounder. Cam Gallagher walked and Hamilton’s excuse-me infield single loaded the bases. However, Marcus Walden relieved and Merrifield flied to right and Mondesi struck out. The Royals are hitless in their last 13 at-bats with the bases loaded. Jorge Soler crushed his 16th homer of the season in the fifth to make it 4-3, and the Royals had runners on second and third with two outs an inning later, but Mondesi struck out for the third time. The Red Sox (33-29) didn’t waste their chance in the seventh and put the game away. Scott Barlow issued a one-out walk to Xander Bogaerts, who stole second as Sam Travis struck out. Rafael Devers was intentionally walked and both runners scored when Christian Vázquez’s sinking liner fooled a diving Hamilton for a triple. Vázquez trotted home on a wild pitch to give Boston a 7-3 lead. Alex Gordon lined a home run, his 10th, to right to get a run back in the seventh. But Lopez opened the eighth with a double and stole third and was left there as Gallagher flied to short right, Hamilton popped out and Merrifield struck out.

In the ninth, Gordon singled with one out and scored on Soler’s double, but Ryan O’Hearn and Cuthbert struck out as Boston finished the sweep. The Royals left 10 runners on base and were 2 of 12 with runners on base. “It’s part of the season,” Merrifield said of the struggles to get the big hit. “You go through ups and downs all season. Just have to grind away.” * Associated Press Betts homers as Red Sox beat Royals 7-5 for 3-game sweep Mookie Betts is pretty good against Danny Duffy. Betts hit a two-run homer off Duffy in a four-run third inning and the Boston Red Sox defeated the Kansas City Royals 7-5 Thursday to complete their first series sweep in nearly a month. Betts is 7 for 11 with five home runs against Duffy (3-3). "I put some good swings on some good pitches," Betts said. Betts has six hits, five home runs and a walk in his last seven plate appearances against Duffy. "I've got to a better job of not serving it to him on a platter," Duffy said. "He's got five bombs against me in 11 at-bats. ... If you make stupid mistakes like that he's going to capitalize." Boston outscored the Royals 23-8 over three games and extended its winning streak to four. The Red Sox swept a series for just the fourth time this year, the first since May 10-12 against the Chicago White Sox. The World Series champions are 27-16 following a 6-13 start and face the second-place Rays in a four-game weekend series at Fenway Park. "We have some confidence going against a really good ballclub," Betts said. "Ride the wave through this weekend." Kansas City has lost six straight and nine of 10, dropping to a big league-worst 19-43. With a doubleheader coming up Saturday against Tampa Bay, Boston gave Ryan Weber his third start. He allowed two runs and five hits in 1 1/3 innings, and Colten Brewer (1-2) followed with two scoreless innings of two-hit relief. Matt Barnes, Boston's seventh pitcher, allowed Jorge Soler's one-out RBI double in the ninth but got his fourth save in seven chances by striking out Ryan O'Hearn and Chelsor Cuthbert. Duffy allowed four runs and four hits in 2 1/3 innings. Eduardo Nunez's hard drive went off the inside of Duffy's right kneecap and ricocheted to O'Hearn, who tagged Nunez for the final out of the second. Duffy retired one of six batters he faced in the third. "It's sore, but it didn't affect me," Duffy said. "If I go back out there it's because I can. If I can, there are no excuses." Betts' 10th home run tied the score, and Rafael Devers put Boston ahead with a two-run single. Soler's fifth-inning homer cut the deficit to 4-3, but Christian Vazquez hit a two-run triple in the seventh and scored on Scott Barlow's wild pitch. Cuthbert and Alex Gordon homered for the Royals.

TRAINER'S ROOM Red Sox DH J.D. Martinez was removed in the fifth inning because of back spasms. ... LHP Brian Johnson, on the IL since April 6 because of elbow inflammation, is to make his sixth minor league injury rehab appearance Sunday. UP NEXT Red Sox: RHP Rick Porcello (4-5, 4.76 ERA) starts Friday's opener of a four-game series against visiting Tampa Bay. Royals: RHP Homer Bailey (4-6, 6.05 ERA) takes the mound Friday at home against the White Sox.