11 STRAIGHT BOSOX REACH BASE SAFELY IN 'W' OVER ROYALS
Red Sox Score 13 Runs on 22 Hits
KANSAS CITY, May 7 (AP) - The Boston Red Sox pounded out 22 hits en route to a
13-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. At one
point, spanning the fourth and fifth innings, 11 consecutive Red Sox batters
reached base safely, the longest such streak in the major leagues this
season. The Royals accrued three outs during that stretch, all of them by
throwing runners out on the bases.
The Royals jumped on top in the bottom of the first inning on Mike Sweeney's
sacrifice fly, but the Red Sox scored twice in the top of the second, with the
first run scoring when Kansas City third baseman Joe Randa booted Shea
Hillenbrand's grounder for an error and the second on Jason Varitek's RBI
single. The Royals reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the second
with two runs on a run-scoring single by Mike DiFelice and a sacrifice fly off
the bat of Michael Tucker.
The score was 3-2 in favor of Kansas City heading into the fourth inning when
the Red Sox scored four times. The Royals countered with three in the
bottom half of the inning to tie the game at six. In the top of the
fourth, Bill Mueller tied the game at three with a lead-off solo home run.
Jeremy Giambi singled to right and advanced to second when Dee Brown overran the
ball for an error. Varitek followed with a home run of his own, putting
Boston on top, 5-3. Johnny Damon grounded out to second and Todd Walker
flied to right, but Nomar Garciaparra started the streak of consecutive batters
reaching base safely with a double. Manny Ramirez dropped a single into
right field, scoring Garciaparra for a 6-3 advantage and chasing Royals starter
Kyle Snyder from the mound. Sean Lowe replaced him and David Ortiz
promptly greeted him with a double off the right field wall, but the Royals
executed a perfect relay and cut Ramirez down at the plate trying to score.
In the bottom of the frame, the Royals tied it up. With one out, Carlos
Febles singled to center and advanced to third when DiFelice blooped a double
just inside the right field foul line. Michael Tucker then drilled a
three-run homer into the bullpen in right field to even the score. That
ended the day for Boston starter John Burkett; Red Sox manager Grady Little
inserted Jason Shiell in his place and, after allowing a double to Randa and
walking Carlos Beltran, he induced a double play grounder from Mike Sweeney to
end the inning.
The Red Sox entered the fifth with three straight hitters reaching base safely
and extended that string immediately when Hillenbrand drew a lead-off
walk. Mueller's single to right advanced Hillenbrand to second and
Giambi's infield hit filled the bases and stretched the streak to six straight
batters reaching base safely. With Varitek at the plate, Lowe's 2-1 pitch
was botched by DiFelice for a passed ball, allowing Hillenbrand to score to give
Boston a 7-6 lead. Varitek then drew Lowe's second free pass of the
inning, refilling the bases. Damon singled to right, scoring Mueller, but
Giambi was thrown out at the plate. Walker then became the ninth Boston
batter in a row to reach safely when he doubled to right, scoring Varitek and
advancing Damon to third. That finally brought Royals manager Tony Pena to
the mound to lift Lowe in favor of Kris Wilson. Garciaparra greeted Wilson
with a single to center, scoring Damon and Walker, but Garciaparra was nailed at
second when the throw to the plate was cut off. Ramirez became the 11th
straight Red Sox batter to reach base when he rapped out a single before Ortiz
finally ended the inning by striking out. Five runs had scored overall and
the Red Sox led by a score of 11-6. It was an advantage the wouldn't
surrender.
The Royals did chop away at the lead, scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth
when Desi Relaford tripled and scored on Brown's sacrifice fly. They cut
the lead to 11-8 in the seventh when Febles singled home Sweeney. But the
Red Sox got both runs back in the eighth, on a solo home run by Ortiz and
Giambi's RBI single--Giambi's fourth safety of the contest. Kansas City
scored a consolation run in the ninth when Febles's fourth hit of the game--a
single--plated Raul Ibanez, who had doubled, but the Red Sox were able to hold
on.
The 22 hits by the Red Sox matched an American League high mark for the season
to date. The Anaheim Angels managed 22 hits in a romp over the Texas
Rangers on April 16. The major league high thus far, 24 hits, was set by
the New York Mets in a win over the Montreal Expos on April 13 in a game played
in San Juan, P.R.
5/7/2003, Bos03-KC03, Kauffman Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Red Sox 0 2 0 4 5 0 0 2 0 13 22 1 10 1 2003 Royals 1 2 0 3 1 0 1 0 1 9 14 2 9 1 Red Sox AB R H BI AVG Royals AB R H BI AVG Damon cf 6 1 2 1 .288 Tucker,M cf 4 2 2 4 .252 Walker,T dh 6 1 2 1 .350 Randa 3b 3 0 1 0 .362 Garciaparra ss 4 1 3 2 .358 Beltran dh 4 0 0 0 .293 Ramirez,M lf 6 0 2 1 .385 Sweeney,Mi 1b 4 1 1 1 .322 Ortiz,D 1b 6 2 3 1 .309 Ibanez lf 5 1 3 0 .310 Hillenbrand 3b 4 2 0 1 .347 Relaford ss 3 1 1 0 .279 Mueller 2b 5 3 3 1 .342 Brown,D rf 2 1 0 1 .250 Giambi,Je rf 5 1 4 1 .207 Harvey ph 1 0 0 0 .215 Jackson,D rf 0 0 0 0 .286 Febles 2b 5 2 4 2 .347 Varitek c 4 2 3 3 .295 DiFelice c 5 1 2 1 .333 46 13 22 12 36 9 14 9 Red Sox INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Burkett 3.1 8 6 6 2 1 64 40 4.85 Shiell W 2-0 3.0 3 2 2 3 1 63 31 5.23 Lyon H 1 1.2 1 0 0 0 1 22 14 3.86 Embree 1.0 2 1 1 1 1 21 12 3.18 9.0 14 9 9 6 4 170 97 Royals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Snyder 3.2 10 6 5 1 1 71 49 11.42 Lowe,S L 0-1 0.2 5 5 5 2 0 26 13 67.50 Wilson,K 1.2 3 0 0 0 2 24 17 1.61 Lopez,Al 1.2 2 2 2 0 0 28 16 7.29 MacDougal 1.1 2 0 0 1 2 30 16 7.07 9.0 22 13 12 4 5 179 111 Bos: Jackson,D inserted at rf in the 8th KC : Harvey batted for Brown,D in the 9th E-Ramirez,M, Randa, Brown,D. 2B-Walker,T(9), Garciaparra 2(13), Ortiz,D(4), Mueller(6), Randa(10), Ibanez 2(9), DiFelice(3). 3B-Ortiz,D(1), Relaford(2). HR-Ortiz,D(6), Mueller(4), Varitek(3), Tucker,M(5). RBI-Damon(16), Walker,T(15), Garciaparra 2(33), Ramirez,M(30), Ortiz,D(16), Hillenbrand(21), Mueller(14), Giambi,Je(4), Varitek 3(21), Tucker,M 4(16), Sweeney,Mi(24), Brown,D(7), Febles 2(12), DiFelice(3). SB-Tucker,M(3). K-Damon, Ramirez,M 2, Ortiz,D, Hillenbrand, Sweeney,Mi, Ibanez, Relaford, DiFelice. BB-Garciaparra 2, Hillenbrand, Varitek, Randa 2, Beltran, Relaford 2, Brown,D. SF-Tucker,M, Sweeney,Mi, Brown,D. PB-DiFelice. Temperature: 79, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 12 MPH. Attendance: 27,156 Game Time: 3:39