KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ 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 Nunez's second-inning liner connected with Duffy's right knee. Duffy fell to the ground and limped off the diamond.
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 at 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.
While Duffy was still touching 94 mph with his fastball in the third, his command was clearly off, and Brian Flynn took over.
Duffy 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 on three golden chances to push runs across in the game and dropped the sixth straight contest.
After Hamilton's double, 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 got Merrifield to fly out before striking out Mondesi, and the Royals left 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.
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 Vazquez's sinking liner skipped past Hamilton for a triple. Vazquez 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.
The Royals, 19-43, have lost nine of their last 10 games and 12 of 14.
