The Red Sox (61-29) look to further humiliate the downtrodden Royals (25-63) when the two “teams” face off this afternoon in Kansas City (2:15 p.m., NESN) behind Rick Porcello (10-3, 3.57 ERA).

About today’s game: If Porcello’s ever gonna pitch a perfect game, it’s gonna be today. He almost certainly won’t, but the day game after a brutal night game doesn’t sound like the best recipe for a K.C. team that’s easy to feel sorry for... when you’re not playing them. When you are, never let your foot off the throat! The Royals send emergency starter Heath Fillmyer (0-0, 2.00 ERA) to the mound in place of Jakob Junis, who was placed on the DL instead of making his scheduled start. Things are not good in Missouri.

J.D. Martinez gets the day off, with Steve Pearce hitting in his place as DH. Eduardo Núñez is at second.

About last night’s game: 15-4, so, yeah. My favorite statline was Andrew Benintendi’s 2-2 with a double, a homer and four walks. Feel free to tag yourself in the recap, tho.

Forecast: About 86 at gametime but quickly getting into the 90s, with a 25 percent chance of rain. Fly ball weather. Go figure.

Today’s reading: I gave you a whole book yesterday, so you can take today off.

A good tweet:

LINEUPS