As much as he wanted to get back to the big leagues, Kansas City pitcher Leo Nuñez might have given some thought to ignoring the phone call informing him he was coming to Boston to face the Red Sox last night.
Nuñez hadn't been back to the Fens since Aug. 4, 2005, when he was summoned in relief to pitch with the bases loaded. He gave up a three-run double to Edgar Renteria, walked the next two batters, then gave up a grand slam to Jason Varitek.
Without retiring a batter, Nuñez had a hand in giving up seven runs in the span of four hitters. That's not something you want on the back of your baseball card.
But the Royals were desperate for a starting pitcher, and the call went out to Nuñez , who has been mostly relieving in the minor leagues. Yet in his first big league start, he inflicted a little misery back on the Sox. The Dominican righthander did not get credit for the decision in Kansas City's 9-3 win -- he left after Julio Lugo's double to open the fifth -- but he was able to sit back while the lightweight Royals ran up the score on Tim Wakefield and two relievers.
"I remember that," Nuñez told reporters (reliever Octavio Dotel translating for him) when reminded of his last visit. "It wasn't good, but this time today, it was great."
For the Sox, meanwhile, this isn't good: They have failed to take advantage of the season's longest homestand, splitting the first six games of an 11-game exercise, allowing the Yankees to make up ground in the American League East. The Yankees lopped another game off the Sox' lead, drawing to within eight (seven in the loss column) by beating Toronto, 3-2, in 10 innings. The Sox, who led by 12 games July 5, have gone 3-6 since, while the Yankees, who last night matched their high-water mark of three games over .500, have gone 7-2 in that span.
This isn't good, either: The Sox ran into two outs on the bases. After his second-inning double, Mike Lowell was cut down trying to advance to third on Coco Crisp's fly ball. Worse, Dustin Pedroia was doubled off first on David Ortiz's fly ball with the Sox down seven runs in the seventh.
"We're not firing on all cylinders right now," said Wakefield, who had won three in a row and five of his last six starts, but last night was charged with six runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings, the wheels coming off in a five-run seventh in which reliever Javier Lopez hardly distinguished himself.
