It Is Will Middlebrooks's World, We're All Just Living In It

Since I was at the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert earlier tonight at the Garden, I missed most of the Red Sox-Royals game. However, I caught the first inning on TV at a bar and the last few innings on the radio in the car while we drove home.

I figured it was worth a quick blog post since Boston (12-16, 8-6 away) managed to snap its five-game losing streak with an 11-5 win over Kansas City (9-19, 2-13 home) in the series opener at Kauffman Stadium. The Red Sox have won seven of their last eight road games (all against the dredge of the AL Central so take that stat for what you will).

After hitting a grand slam on Sunday for his first MLB home run, rookie Will Middlebrooks (5 RBIs) added a three-run homer in the first and a two-run homer in the eighth as bookends to the much needed victory. In total, the Red Sox hit four home runs as David Ortiz (7th of the season) had a solo homer in the third and Dustin Pedroia (4th of the season) had a two-run shot in the fourth.

The most impressive part about Middlebrooks's power is that his three-run homer was down the line in right, his two-run homer hit the foul pole in left and he also added a double to deep center. Haha damn, relax Will.

Felix Doubront (2-1) was able to get into the seventh, lasting 6.1 innings on a night where Boston desperately needed innings from him. I read many headlines with him getting props but he gave up five runs (four earned), seven hits, two strikeouts and three walks to a putrid team. He got the job done but I'm not going overboard on the praise.

If anything, Vicente Padilla deserves more positive attention than Doubront since he pitched for the second straight game and third time in four days. He handled the last 2.2 innings, not allowing a run while saving the rest of the Red Sox bullpen which they'll surely need in the series.

Pedroia (3 runs, 3 walks, 2 hits, 2 RBIs) and Ortiz (3 runs, 3 hits, 2 walks, RBI) both finished with excellent games at the plate as Boston pounded Kansas City to the tune of 16 hits. Adrian Gonzalez had an RBI single in the first while Cody Ross had a two-run double in the eighth.

The Red Sox will look to continue its mastery of the AL Central bottom-feeders as Daniel Bard (2-3) faces Danny Duffy (2-2) tomorrow night (8:10 p.m., NESN). I'll be paying close attention to the Celtics-Hawks Game 5 but I will flip back and forth to that as well.

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