TORONTO, 27 August 2005 — Emil Brown homered and Terrence Long drove in a pair of runs as the Kansas City Royals downed the Boston Red Sox 7-4 on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium, ruining Curt Schilling’s long awaited return to the starting rotation.
The woeful Royals looked like the perfect place for a comeback for the Red Sox World Series hero but Schilling was far from sharp, yielding six runs on nine hits over five innings to take the loss in his first start since April 23.
“I felt fine ... I felt strong,” said Schilling. “There’s a fluid to a game, a tempo and I didn’t allow myself to get into that.” Serving as the Red Sox closer since returning from the disabled list in mid-July following surgery on his wonky right ankle, Schilling converted nine of 11 save opportunities working out of the bullpen but had been anxious to return to his more familiar role as a starter.
The American League east leaders were also keen to get Schilling back into the rotation hoping to get the righthander seven or eight starts before the postseason.
Schilling (5-6), impressed early with a pair of strikeouts in the first inning but ran into trouble in the second when he was tagged for three runs on RBI singles from Denny Hocking, Paul Phillips and Long to take a 3-0 lead.
Mark Teahen drove across another run in the third before the Red Sox answered with two in the top of the fourth to trim the deficit t 4-2.
The Royals, however, would get those right back in the bottom half of the inning on David DeJesus’s RBI double and an RBI from Long.
Jose Lima (5-12) was not particularly effective on the mound for the Royals but still took credit for the win allowing three runs on five hits over five innings.
Earlier in the day, it was reported that Schilling had auctioned off his subpoena to testify at Congressional hearing investigating steroid use in baseball and donated the $2,000 he received to charity.
In New York, Gary Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez belted back-to-back first inning homers powering the Yankees to a 6-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada also contributed three hits each to the New York cause as the Yankees kept pace with the Oakland Athletics and Cleveland Indians in the AL wildcard race.
The Yankees wasted little time taking control of the matinee, jumping out to a 4-0 lead before Toronto’s rookie starter Gustavo Chacin (11-7) had recorded an out.
Jeter and Hideki Matsui welcomed Chacin with back-to-back singles before Gary Sheffield took the lefthander over the wall in deep left.
Rodriguez then capped off a four-run first inning with his AL leading 37th homer of the season.
Shawn Chacon (3-1) provided the Yankees with seven sharp innings yielding two runs on six hits while striking out six to take credit for the win.
“This was a grind. I didn’t really feel like I had anything today, as far as command of my pitches,” Chacon told MLB.com.
“I made a few good pitches when I needed to, but overall, I wouldn’t say I had my good stuff today.” Chacin was saddled with the loss after giving up six runs on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings.
In Minneapolis, Timo Perez stroked a 10th-inning single driving home the winning run as the rebounding Chicago White Sox slipped past the Minnesota Twins 2-1.
In Detroit, Mark Ellis, Dan Johnson and Jay Payton homered and Barry Zitod the Detroit Tigers 11-1 to collect just their third win in 10 games.
In St. Petersburg, Ron Belliard belted a grand slam to key a seven-run third inning as Cleveland crushed the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 12-4.
In Arlington, Ichiro Suzuki cranked a ninth-inning grand slam and Jeff Harris provided seven sharp innings as the Seattle Mariners torpedoed the Texas Rangers 8-2.
In Baltimore, Javy Lopez belted a two-run homer and Rodrigo Lopez was dominant pitching seven scoreless innings as the Orioles blanked the Los Angeles Angels 2-0.
