KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Boston Red Sox survived two scares on Sunday — a possible serious injury to left fielder Jacoby Ellsbury and a Kansas City Royals rally.
Dustin Pedroia collected four hits, including a home run, to lead Boston to an 8-6 victory.
Adrian Beltre had three hits and three RBIs for the Red Sox, but was part of a ninth-inning collision that resulted in Ellsbury being helped off the field.
“He kneed me right in the ribs,” Ellsbury said. “I was worried about, a broken rib. I’m sure there is quite a bit of swelling in there cause it is a little tough to breath. It didn’t feel too good initially.
“They got good enough X-rays. They’ll just probably blow them up on a bigger monitor [Monday] and make sure there is nothing like a minor break. There was nothing obvious on it.”
Jose Guillen homered twice and drove in four runs for the Royals. Gil Meche lasted just 3¤ innings in his first start after being sidelined by a stiff shoulder.
Ellsbury and Beltre were chasing Mitch Maier’s foul fly ball. Ellsbury remained on the grass for several minutes and isn’t sure if he’ll be able to play Monday at Minnesota.
“I guess [it will be] pain tolerance,” he said. “I know it’s going to be really sore tomorrow.”
Pedroia’s homer in the fourth was his third in six games. He connected in the 2009 season opener, then went 190 at-bats before his second homer on May 31.
“I don’t know how many games it was, but it seemed like forever,” Pedroia said. “I’m actually seeing the ball good. I usually have a tough time early. I’ve got three pitches on the inner part of the plate and I hit them. I’m just trying to get my pitch and do damage with it. That’s been my game plan.”
Guillen led off the second with a drive to center and hit a three-run shot off Ramon Ramirez in the eighth to get Kansas City within two. Ramirez failed to retire any of the three hitters he faced.
Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon combined for the final six outs, with Papelbon earning his second save in two opportunities.
“The good news is Bard and Pap did a great job,” manager Terry Francona said. “The flip side is we had to get to them. We came out of the chute with a lot of energy and did some good things and then hung on for dear life.”
Boston sent eight men to the plate during its four-run first. Victor Martinez singled in Ellsbury and scored on Beltre’s base hit. Jeremy Hermida added a two-run double.
Beltre doubled in two more runs in the fourth to give Boston an 8-3 lead.
Clay Buchholz (1-0) worked five innings for the Red Sox, yielding three runs, two earned and seven hits.
Meche (0-1), in the fourth season of a $55 million, five-year contract, allowed seven runs and eight hits. Royals starting pitchers had a 2.51 ERA in the first five games of the season.
“My outing was terrible,” Meche said. “I felt fine, probably felt too good, coming out of the bullpen. My intensity was too high. I just couldn’t get the ball down. My release point was off pretty much the whole day. They hit some balls up and capitalized early. I made a lot of mistakes.”
NOTES: OF J.D. Drew was held out of Boston’s lineup with a stiff neck. He is hoping to return to the lineup Monday at Minnesota. … INF Bill Hall made his Red Sox debut, starting at shortstop and moving to right field in the ninth. He went 0 for 3 and committed an error in the first that led to an unearned run. … Red Sox DH David Ortiz struck out four times, bringing his strikeout total to nine in 19 at-bats. He is hitting .111 with one extra-base hit and one RBI in five games.
Saturday’s game
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jeremy Hermida and Jason Varitek homered on consecutive pitches from Zack Greinke and the Boston Red Sox went deep five times in an 8-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.
Varitek added a second homer and Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia also connected for the Red Sox, helping Josh Beckett to remain unbeaten against Kansas City.
Beckett (1-0), in his first game since signing a four-year, $68 million contract extension, allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings. He had one walk and four strikeouts while beating the Royals for the fifth straight start. In eight career starts against the Royals, Beckett is 6-0.
Greinke (0-1) had a 1-0 lead after four but Hermida hit a 1-1 pitch leading off the fifth for his first home run. Varitek then slammed Greinke’s next delivery into the Royals bullpen, marking the first time in Greinke’s career the right-hander had allowed home runs on consecutive pitches.
Varitek, making his first start of the year, homered off Luis Mendoza in the ninth. Three batters later Pedroia hit a two-run shot, giving him three RBIs. Youkilis led off the Boston eighth with a solo homer off Dusty Hughes.
In his first two starts, Greinke has given up five earned runs — one more than he allowed in his first eight starts a year ago.
He yielded eight hits and four runs in 6 2-3 innings, with five strikeouts and no walks. He also hit two batters, including Marco Scutaro, who scored on Jacoby Ellsbury’s RBI double in the seventh. Pedroia made it 4-1 with a sacrifice fly.
Jason Kendall had an RBI single for KC in the bottom of the seventh and then Chris Getz singled, stole second and scored on an RBI single by David DeJesus that appeared to slightly graze the back of Beckett’s head.
Rick Ankiel had an RBI single for Kansas City in the first, his fifth straight hit. Ankiel, who was 4 for 4 on Thursday night, doubled in the fourth to make it six hits in six at-bats before popping up in his next appearance.