G28: Red Sox 10, Royals 6

Royals  - 300 200 001 -  6  9  1
Red Sox - 015 220 20x - 10 13  0

Xander Bogaerts's grand slam in the third inning - the Red Sox's sixth dong supreme this season, after hitting none last year - turned the game around, erasing the Royals' 3-2 lead and giving Boston a 6-3 advantage. Kansas City closed to within 6-5, but Hector Velazquez fanned two Royals with the potential tying run at second and that was the last threat of the night from the Royals.

Much is being made of the Red Sox tying the major league record (held by the 1996 Expos) of hitting six grand slams before May 1, but that record is meaningless because seasons do not start on the same day. The 2018 Red Sox had the advantage of the earliest Opening Day in history (March 29) and they have played 28 games through the end of April. In 1996, the Expos' season began on April 2 and they played 26 games before May began.

Also, Opening Days in decades past were much later: 1958 (April 14), 1944 (April 18), 1931 (April 14), 1918 (April 15), 1902 (April 17). ... In 1902, the Tigers played only five games before May 1.

The slams were hit April 7, 10, 11, 18, 20, and 30. The first five were hit in less than two weeks.

Eduardo Rodriguez (4-5-5-3-6, 88) had a bizarre first inning. He threw 35 pitches and allowed two hits and three walks (including two with the bases loaded), and he hit a batter. But he also was well ahead in the count on a majority of the Royals batters:

Whit Merrifield: 0-2 count, hit 1-2 pitch to right-center for single
Jorge Soler: 0-2 count, fouls off 4 pitches, walks on 3-2 pitch (10th of plate appearance)
Mike Moustakis: hit by first pitch
Salvador Perez: walks on 4 pitches, run scores
Cheslor Cuthbert: 0-2 count, strikes out on 1-2 count
Lucas Duda: 0-2 count, then 4 straight balls, which forces a run home
Jon Jay: 0-2 count, infield single on next pitch, no play made, run scores
Alex Gordon: GIDP 4-6-3 on first pitch

Jason Hammel (4.2-8-8-3-2, 107) retired eight of his first nine batters, the exception being Mitch Moreland, who led off the second with a home run to deep right.

In the third, Hammel got the first two outs, but would need 35 pitches to get the final out of the inning. Andrew Benintendi reached on an infield single and Hanley Ramirez lined a double into the right field corner that got stuck under the padding and forced Benintendi to return to third. J.D. Martinez walked. Moreland walked (on eight pitches), giving the Red Sox their first run. Bogaerts also saw eight pitches and he belted the last one over everything in left, the slam being measured at 430 feet.

Kansas City tagged Rodriguez for two more runs in the fourth as Gordon was plunked and Alcides Escobar and Merrifield followed with run-scoring doubles. Boston pulled away on Benintendi's sac fly in the fourth and Nunez's single in the fifth (which scored Martinez who had led off with a double).

Moreland was on base four times (home run, walk, double, single) and scored three runs. Bogaerts also had three hits.

After posting Bill James's glowing appreciation of Royals radio announcer Denny Matthews back on March 25, I thought I should listen to him tonight. James wrote his piece after the 1982 season and Matthews is clearly not the same announcer he was 36 years ago. Like every other radio announcer, he now fails to adequately describe pitches and the direction of both foul balls and hits. In the first inning, he used the dreaded "and it's quickly 0-2" (it always takes 2 pitches to get a 0-2 count, it's never quicker or slower than that) and said one pitch was "off the corner" (which corner? there are 4!). His complete description of one pitch out of the strike zone was: "it misses". He did not mention where any of three consecutive foul balls were hit. And he described Soler taking a pitch "under his chin" when it really passed him at about belly-height.

Matthews also makes a somewhat whistling "shh" sound on every "s" he speaks, which becomes extremely annoying - and pretty much the only thing you can hear - after someone points it out to you (thanks a lot, Laura). Hearing Matthews say "Phillips 66" was especially horrific, as was hearing that whistling sound at both the beginning and the end of the word "strikes", which as you can imagine, happened a lot. ... So I won't be tuning in again. Shhorry, Denny.

The Astros beat the Yankees 2-1, so the Red Sox are now 3 GA.

Jason Hammel / Eduardo Rodriguez

Benintendi, CF
Ramirez, DH
Martinez, LF
Moreland, 1B
Bogaerts, SS
Devers, 3B
Nunez, 2B
Bradley, RF
Vazquez, C

The Red Sox have won the most games (20-7) of any team, while the Royals have the fewest (7-20, tied with the Reds (7-21)).

From April 10 through the first game of an April 28 doubleheader, Kansas City went 2-15 (scoring an average of 3.1 runs per game, while allowing 6.7). The Royals have the worst team slugging percentage in the AL (.366) and the second-worst team ERA (5.18).

Boston has won only three of its last eight games, but anything other than a three-game sweep will be unacceptable.

In New York:

CC Sabathia snapped at Angel Hernandez over the homeplate umpire's erratic strike zone.

Angry that a 1-2 pitch to Justin Upton wasn't called a strike, Sabathia and Hernandez exchanged words following the third inning ...

"Don't talk to me. Call f--king strikes!" Sabathia yelled at Hernandez after getting Upton to ground to third for the final out of the frame, stranding runners at the corners.

Aaron Boone came out to protect his veteran southpaw ... while Didi Gregorius came over to Sabathia and tried to usher him toward the dugout.

While I believe (as do many players) that Hernandez is incompetent, the pitch that angered Sabathia was not a strike (#4):