Red Sox Bats Erupt A Second Straight Night, Dismantle Royals, 12-5

After defeating the Kansas City Royals by a score of 13-9 on Tuesday, the Red Sox offense continued to tear up Royal pitching as they put up double digits in runs once again on Wednesday; scoring 12 runs and compiling 16 hits en route to a 12-5 win over Kansas City.

The offensive attack began in the first inning when Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia hit back-to-back solo shots off Royals starter Bruce Chen. The two got it going again in the second when Ellsbury drew a walk to bring home a run and Pedroia got another home on a sacrifice fly. On another note, Adrian Gonzalez hit an RBI groundout to tack on to the total. The Sox took 5-3 lead after two.

The Sox picked it up again in the fourth when Yamaico Navarro brought home Darnell McDonald from second base. But the big blow came later in the inning when David Ortiz crushed a 3-1 off-speed offering into the right field bleachers for a grand slam, opening up the lead to 10-3 at that point. 

Adrian Gonzalez provided the rest of the offense for the Red Sox this evening with a pair of RBI singles in the later frames to cap off a 12-run offensive effort this evening. The scary part about it is both Carl Crawford and Josh Reddick didn't play in this game. Who says we need Carlos Beltran?

On the other end of this game, John Lackey did a solid enough job not to protect the big lead the Red Sox gave him. Lackey stumbled the early going when he allowed a three-run home run in the first inning to Erik Hosmer. He gave up another long ball in the fifth inning to Billy Butler. Luckily, the Sox had Lackey's back this evening.

His night ended in the sixth inning after allowing two straight two-out hits and was replaced by Randy Williams. Lackey was able to get through five and two thirds innings while giving up three earned runs on 11 hits. While it wasn't the best performance, Lackey pitched well enough in order to get the win. Which is all we ask of him at this point.

A few game notes to reflect on:

• Jacoby Ellsbury (3 for 4), Dustin Pedroia (3 for 4) and Adrian Gonzalez (3 for 5) continue to prove that they are arguably the best 1-2-3 combination in all of baseball. All three of these guys need to be in the MVP talks towards the end of this year.
• Pedroia extended that hit streak to 24 this evening with his home run in the first inning.
• Ellsbury fell a triple shy of the cycle.
• Darnell McDonald continues to make a strong case for the Red Sox to keep him, as he went 2 for 4 with a double against left hander Bruce Chen this evening. If the Sox don't deal for the right fielder at the deadline to compliment Reddick, I don't think it's the end of the world if D-Mac stays.
• Every member of the Red Sox starting lineup except Marco Scutaro got a hit off Royals pitching this evening. With Jed Lowrie reportedly getting closer, that could dispel Scutaro of his duties at shortstop.