Lorenzo Cain, Johnny Cueto, Royals look sluggish in 7-2 loss to Red Sox

Lorenzo Cain assumed the running position he made famous last October as he sprinted toward right-center field at Fenway Park. He hunched his shoulders slightly, with his left arm dangling by his side, ready to swoop at the last moment and prevent a sinking line drive from touching the outfield grass. He covers his position in a fashion that makes the difficult look simple and the improbable look likely.

Except this was the sort of night Cain suffered through in Friday’s Royals 7-2 loss to the Red Sox: He did not dive. The baseball bounced off the grass a second ahead of his arrival. When it caromed off the ground, it clipped the webbing of his glove and bounced ahead of him. A run scored because of Cain’s fourth-inning error.

“Overall, I just played like (garbage) tonight,” Cain said. “That’s all it boils down to.”

Cain looked less than sterling on a series of plays in the field, part of a team-wide stumble for their second loss in a row to the lowly Red Sox. Boston battered Johnny Cueto for seven runs in six innings, although Cueto’s defense did him few favors.

Cueto, who fell to 2-2 with a 3.00 ERA as a Royal, gave up a season-high 13 hits. In the sixth, light-hitting second baseman Josh Rutledge capped the pounding with a two-run home run. It was his first homer of the season.

“They just beat him,” said catching coach Pedro Grifol, who translated for Cueto. “Those guys are major-league players and they’re in a major-league lineup. And they just beat him.”

The Royals showed more life at the plate than they did Thursday, when the club sleep-walked through a series-opening defeat. But they still only managed two runs off rookie southpaw Henry Owens in his eight innings on Friday. Cain’serror led to a run in the fourth. Alcides Escobar launched his third homer of the season in the sixth.

Cain developed into an All-Star in 2015 and is likely to land on MVP ballots at the end of the season. But he, like his division-leading team, struggled for stretches Friday night. The Royals, 73-48, have a chance to return to normalcy during two more games here.

“No aspect of our game was tremendously good tonight,” manager Ned Yost said. “One of those nights.”

Cueto was pitching at Fenway Park for the first time. His stylistic precursor, Luis Tiant, called this ballpark home for eight years. Cueto paid tribute on Friday with his usual arrangement of differing tempos and deliveries.

Cueto can become a free agent this winter. He told WEEI, the local radio powerhouse here, that he would be interested in joining the Red Sox. But his opponents jabbed away at him on Friday.

The night before, rookie infielder Travis Shaw vexed lefty Danny Duffy. He did the same to Cueto in the second inning, digging out a shin-high changeup for a one-out double. He advanced to third on a curious single by outfielder Rusney Castillo, a pop-up that fell between the retreat of Omar Infante and the forward charge of Cain.

An error led to a run in the next at-bat. Rookie catcher Blake Swihart pounced on an elevated cutter and shot it into left field. Shaw scored and Castillo stopped at third. The throw by outfielder Paulo Orlando skipped past Escobar, which allowed Castillo to score. Escobar was charged with an error.

A single by the next batter, Mookie Betts, swelled Boston’s lead to three. The ball bounced off Orlando’s glove, but it was ruled a hit.

“At the last second,” Orlando said, “I took my eye off it.”

The Royals scratched together a run against Owens in the fourth. Ben Zobrist doubled to lead off the inning. It was the Royals’ first hit of the game. Two batters later, Eric Hosmer roped a single into left. Hanley Ramirez, a converted infielder, misplayed the ball, and Zobrist scored. Hosmer did not receive credit for an RBI, but at least his team had a run.

Boston answered in the bottom of the inning. Castillo boomed a slider over Cain’s head. Cain sprinted toward the center-field wall. He could not run down the ball. It was a triple.

“That’s a play I need to make,” Cain said. “That’s a play I’m used to making.”

Swihart roped an RBI single two pitches later off Cueto.

“They made adjustments to him,” Grifol said of Cueto. “He didn’t leave too many (pitches) up, but the ones he did leave up, they put good swings on them.”

The error on Cain occurred two at-bats later. Betts roped the liner. Cain gave chase. The ball skittered away.

When the inning ended, Cain made the long walk back to his dugout. He was the last Royal to leave the field. He ripped off his hat and threw it to the ground.

“Just a horrible night, all the way around, by me,” Cain said.

Red Sox 7, Royals 2

TableStyle: SP-basebattersCCI Template: SP-basebatters

TableStyle: SP-basebattersCCI Template: SP-basebatters

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E: A.Escobar (10), L.Cain (8), H.Ramirez (4). LOB: Kansas City 2, Boston 7. 2B: Zobrist (26), Betts (28), Sandoval (20), T.Shaw (4), Swihart 2 (14). 3B: R.Castillo (2). HR: A.Escobar (3), off Owens; Rutledge (1), off Cueto. RBIs: A.Escobar (38), Betts (57), Swihart 2 (22), Rutledge 2 (3).

Runners left in scoring position: Boston 5 (Ortiz, Sandoval 3, Bogaerts). RISP: Kansas City 1 for 2; Boston 5 for 14. Runners moved up: Bogaerts. GIDP: K.Morales, Sandoval. DP: Kansas City 1 (Infante, A.Escobar, Hosmer); Boston 1 (Sandoval, Rutledge, T.Shaw).

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TableStyle: SP-basepitchersCCI Template: SP-basepitchers

WP: F.Morales. Umpires: Home, Bob Davidson; First, Hunter Wendelstedt; Second, Mike Everitt; Third, David Rackley. Time: 2:31. Att: 35,203.

This story was originally published August 21, 2015 at 8:43 PM with the headline "Lorenzo Cain, Johnny Cueto, Royals look sluggish in 7-2 loss to Red Sox."