Cueto Shelled in Boston; Royals Fall 7-2

Why the hell can't they beat the freaking Red Sox?

Johnny Cueto (2-2) had his worst start as a Royal, getting shelled by 13 hits and allowing seven runs (six earned). He managed to preserve the bullpen somewhat by pitching six innings, and while he wasn't particularly sharp, his defense betrayed him in his first career start at Fenway Park.

In the second inning, five straight Red Sox reached off Cueto to plate three runs. The inning wasn't exactly a highlight package for the Royals defense; a flare blooped in between Omar Infante and Lorenzo Cain. Infante, playing in his first game in a few days, originally called off Cain but then lost the ball in the lights. Three hitters later, Mookie Betts' line drive landed right in the glove of Paulo Orlando, who dropped the ball and allowed another run to score.

Kansas City plated runs in the fourth and sixth innings before allowing Boston to score two of their own in the bottom of both frames. An RBI single by Eric Hosmer and a solo home run by Alcides Escobar, his third, were the only run-producing hits for the Royals all evening.

Henry Owens (2-1), a soft-tossing left hander, lowered his ERA almost two runs in his best outing of the year. He stifled the Royals for eight terrific innings, yielding two runs (one unearned) on just four hits. He walked Escobar on four pitches to open the game. Shockingly, the Royals drew no more walks the rest of the game. They instead tried to smack low-and-inside breaking balls to the opposite field, igniting a popout frenzy that delighted the Fenway crowd.

Normally, I spend a lot more time on these recaps, but this game just flat-out wasn't that interesting. The Red Sox were up by three runs after two innings and it was essentially over at that point.

Oh, and Omar Infante returned to the starting lineup in the midst of an 0-for-26 slump. He made outs in all three of his plate appearances. He is now mired in an 0-for-29 stretch. His slash line is .215/.230/.295. He makes Alex Rios looks like Ken Griffey Jr. He needs to not play anymore, ever.

Seriously, why can they not win against Boston? Steve Physioc said it's because they're super-ultra hot, but they were only 5-5 in the 10 games prior to the series. He also said that it was because they're really good at home, but entering the series, they were 31-30 at Fenway Park. Maybe Steve Physioc just isn't very smart, who knows.

Tomorrow, Kansas City looks to get its first win at Fenway Park since 2013 when Yordano Ventura (7-7, 4.82 ERA) takes on Matt Barnes (3-3, 6.59). He's also a rookie soft-tosser, so he'll likely throw seven sterling innings. We'll see.