BOSTON _ On most nights, Bill Duplissea sits at a desk in a back room of a baseball clubhouse, his eyes on a collection of screens and monitors. Upon first glance, the setup looks sort of like a mall security guard, keeping a watchful eye on the premises.
But for the Royals, who suddenly find themselves thrust into another pennant race, Duplissea is more than just another pair of eyes. He is, in some respects, a secret weapon, the best replay coordinator in all of baseball.
You probably don't hear about Duplissea all that much. A former professional catcher and advance scout, he prefers to work in anonymity, to sit at his station in the clubhouse and search for the little edges. But then there are moments like Friday night, the seventh inning of an eventual 6-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
As reliever Chris Young protected a three-run lead, Boston right fielder Mookie Betts opened the inning with his fourth hit of the night. Moments later, on a 2-2 pitch, Young attempted a pickoff at first and Betts slid in safely. And then Duplissea went to work.
The Kansas City dugout challenged the call. The umpires overruled the original decision. Duplissea and the Royals improved to 24-for-34 on replay reviews in 2016, the best percentage in baseball.
And so, on a night when the Royals did all the big things, blasting three homers and taking the opening game of a crucial series, they also did the little things. Duplissea came up clutch once more.
Just 24 hours after finishing off a series victory in Miami, the Royals (67-61) arrived at Fenway Park and won for a 16th time in 19 games. Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon crushed homers over the green monster in the top of the first, producing a 5-0 lead against Red Sox starter Steven Wright. Lorenzo Cain tacked on another homer in the eighth, his first blast in 191 at-bats.
The early onslaught aided starting pitcher Ian Kennedy, who allowed two runs in 52/3 innings. The bullpen pieced together another 22/3 scoreless innings, extended the unit's scoreless streak to 421/3 innings before it allowed a run in the ninth.
Before it ended, it was the longest in-season run in 50 years, according to Elias. The last bullpen to dominate like this? The 1966 Kansas City A's, who tossed 44 straight scoreless innings.
In some ways, it was an opportunistic victory. The Red Sox' first four hitters piled up eight hits in 11 at-bats in the night's first five innings. Kennedy limited the damage to just one run. In the bottom of the first, he stranded the bases loaded by striking out Boston catcher Sandy Leon and Jackie Bradley Jr. on four-seam fastballs.
Kennedy would strand another runner in the second before finding himself in a tricky jam in the third. David Ortiz opened the inning with a rule-book double and Betts followed with a single, putting men at the corners with nobody out. But once again, Kennedy buckled down, coaxing an infield pop-up from Hanley Ramirez and striking out Leon and Bradley for a second time.
With a 5-0 lead, Kennedy needed 91 pitches to navigate through the first four innings. He needed 100 to finish the fifth. But he left nine men on base and allowed just two earned runs in 51/3 innings before manager Ned Yost popped out of the dugout with one out in the sixth inning. Yost signaled for Young, who allowed an RBI single to Dustin Pedroia before shortstop Alcides Escobar made a terrific defensive play to record the second out of the inning.
Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts smashed a one-hopper toward Escobar, the baseball hitting 107 mph off the bat. Escobar, in one movement, picked the baseball back-handed and recorded the out at first.
Moments later, Young struck out David Ortiz to end the threat. The bullpen _ and a replay in the seventh _ made another lead stand up.
