July 10, 2009 Royals knock Red Sox from solo perch atop AL East

BOSTON (AP) - The Kansas City Royals fell behind early at Fenway Park and things appeared to be going in Boston's favor.

David DeJesus and his Royals teammates weren't about to just hand over a win.

DeJesus hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning and the Royals rallied from an early four-run deficit to knock the Red Sox out of sole possession of first place in the A.L. East with an 8-6 victory Thursday night.

Luke Hochevar (5-3) won for the fifth time in seven starts, and Joakim Soria recorded four outs for his 14th save.

"Late in the games, you can feel that Red Sox aura here," DeJesus said. "But once we got Soria in the game, we feel confident he can do the job, and he did the job as usual."

Boston is 5-5 in its last 10 games and its struggling bullpen has absorbed four of those losses.

David Ortiz hit his 300th career homer for Boston, which fell to 3-4 on its 10-game homestand after splitting six games against Seattle and Oakland. The loss, coupled with the New York Yankees' 6-4 victory over Minnesota, has the teams tied with three games remaining before the All-Star break.

"Those guys just bounced back tonight and scored runs at the right time," Ortiz said. "The Yankees are not a surprise. They are playing great."

Mark Teahen and Willie Bloomquist each had three hits, and Alberto Callaspo had a pair of RBI doubles to help Kansas City avoid its third consecutive

"We had some grinding at-bats," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "Guys saw a lot of pitches and continued to battle."

Boston's bullpen combined to allow five runs in four innings after starter Brad Penny was staked to a 5-3 lead after five innings. He allowed three runs and six hits, and has only one win in his last six starts.

"There are times when things don't always work out," reliever Justin Masterson said. "Lately, it has been a different guy missing on a different pitch at a different time."

Masterson (3-3) relieved Delcarmen and Ryan Freel tied it after working the count full and singling in Callaspo. DeJesus capped off the inning with a two-run shot into the Royals' bullpen for a 7-5 lead.

"Our bullpen gave up some runs and when you look for four innings of relief that can happen," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "Masterson made a real good pitch on Freel that falls and that, to me, is the big pitch."

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)