G52: Red Sox 8, Royals 1

Royals  - 010 000 000 - 1  5  0
Red Sox - 001 033 01x - 8 10  0

While the bottom three in the Boston lineup went 6-for-11 and scored seven runs, Lester (7-4-1-4-5, 105) kept the Royals in check.

Jason Varitek singled, hit a solo home run, and scored twice; Bill Hall singled twice and scored two runs; and Mike Cameron doubled twice, walked, scored three times and drove in two.

Marco Scutaro had two doubles and a single and drove in two runs. David Ortiz hit a two-run dong to dead center. He also had a sac fly.

Lester walked three of the first 11 batters, including the leadoff man in both of the first two innings, but settled down after that. He retired 11 of 12 batters (and 15 of 18) at one point, as the bats teed off on Kansas City reliever Brad Thompson.

Out of Town: The White Sox beat the Rays 8-5. Justin Masterson shut out the Yankees for six innings, but New York rallied and beat Cleveland 7-3. The Blue Jays completed a sweep of the Orioles 6-1.

So everyone gains a game on Tampa: New York 3.5, Toronto 4.5, Boston 5.5.

Bruce Chen / Jon Lester

Scutaro, SS
McDonald, LF
Ortiz, DH
Youkilis, 1B
Beltre, 3B
Drew, RF
Varitek, C
Hall, 2B
Cameron, CF

AL East:

Spiders/Yankees, 1 PM
Orioles/Blue Jays, 1 PM
White Sox/Rays, 1:30 PM