Paulo Orlando Leads Royals To 8-4 Win Vs Red Sox

Paulo Orlando hit a two-run homer, a two-run single, and a stand-up triple to lead the resurgent Kansas City Royals to an 8-4 home victory over the hard-hitting Boston Red Sox in the opener of their three-game series Tuesday night.

Paulo Orlando Leads Royals To 8-4 Win Vs Red Sox

“I’m very happy to be here. Whatever they need, defense or base-running, I just come to the field to help,” said the speedy Brazilian and Royals outfielder, who started his fourth straight game. “They know what I can do to help the team.”

Omar Infante and Alcides Escobar also scored runs for Kansas City. Starting 24-year-old right-hander Yordano Ventura (4-2) gave up four runs and seven hits over 5 2/3 innings before leaving with a one-run lead.

“You try to find a hot hitter and you kind of ride it out,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “We just right now need the offense. The offense from the bottom of the order tonight was fantastic.”

Rick Porcello (6-2) allowed five runs, four earned, on eight hits and two walks for the Red Sox. He played five-plus innings, his shortest start since lasting just two innings against the Chicago White Sox last July.

Boston gained an early 1-0 lead after Jackie Bradley Jr. extended his hitting streak to 22 games with an RBI double in the second, but the Royals quickly responded in the third. Escobar drove in Orland shortly before first baseman Eric Hosmer fired a two-out pitch over the center-field wall for a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth, Porcello gave up three runs on four straight one-out singles, thus matching the second-most runs he’d allowed in a start all season.

“I definitely made some mistakes and obviously they capitalized on them,” Porcello said. “They did a good job of taking advantage of pitches that were up and over the middle of the plate. I was just really inconsistent locating my fastball down in the zone and some of the off-speed pitches I threw were not as effective as I would have liked.”

Travis Shaw led the Red Sox offense with a three-run homer. This was Shaw’s 17th consecutive game in which he scored a home run. The franchise record is 19, set in July 1996.

Luke Hochevar got the final out of the sixth and played a perfect seventh. Salvador Perez threw out Xander Bogaerts trying to steal second to wipe out the potential tying run in the eighth.

Boston manager John Farrell was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing with plate umpire Bill Miller over the strike zone. This was the second time this season Farrell was thrown out.

Game 2 of the series is set for Wednesday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

PHOTO: KANSAS CITY, MO – MAY 17: Salvador Perez #13 of the Kansas City Royals slides home to score a run after a wild throw to first base from Koji Uehara #19 of the Boston Red Sox in the eighth inning at Kauffman Stadium on May 17, 2016 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jason Hanna/Getty Images)