Royals Have More Than Schilling

Curt Schilling could find only one serious negative about his first start in four months -- the final score.

The veteran right-hander, who had been in Boston’s bullpen much of the season, got cuffed around Thursday night by the host Kansas City Royals, who beat the Red Sox, 7-4, for their fourth victory in five games since a franchise-record 19-game losing streak.

“I didn’t feel like I had super stuff, and I didn’t feel like I had bad stuff,” Schilling said. “I felt normal.”

Schilling (5-6) lasted five innings, giving up six runs and nine hits. Making his first start since losing to Tampa Bay on April 23, he walked one and had five strikeouts, including the last two batters he faced.

“In the fifth inning I thought I got more comfortable,” he said. “I didn’t throw my first split until the ninth hitter of the game, which is not something that happens to me a lot. I only think I threw three in the first four innings. A lot of that was confidence. I didn’t feel real comfortable with it.”

Emil Brown had three hits for the Royals, including a 422-foot solo homer off Jonathan Papelbon in the eighth inning.

Kansas City starter Jose Lima (5-12) gave up three runs and five hits in five-plus innings for the win. Denny Hocking’s one-out single drove in the first run the Royals had scored behind Lima in 24 2/3 innings, just short of the team record of 25 1/3 scoreless innings behind Kevin Appier.

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New York 6, Toronto 2 -- Gary Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez hit consecutive first-inning home runs at Yankee Stadium to back Shawn Chacon, who improved to 3-1 with a 1.80 earned-run average with the Yankees after going 1-7 with a 4.09 ERA for Colorado.

Chacon pitched out of two bases-loaded jams to earn his third consecutive victory, giving up six hits in seven innings, striking out six and walking four.

The Yankees needed just five pitches to take the lead against Gustavo Chacin (11-7), who gave up six runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings.

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Oakland 11, Detroit 1 -- Barry Zito (12-10) gave up four hits in six scoreless innings, and Mark Ellis, Dan Johnson and Jay Payton hit home runs for the Athletics at Detroit. Mike Maroth (11-12) had his worst outing of the year, lasting 3 2/3 innings and giving up eight runs.

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Chicago 2, Minnesota 1 -- Timo Perez hit the go-ahead single for the White Sox in the 10th inning at Minneapolis after Geoff Blum doubled against Jesse Crain (9-3) and pinch-hitter Pablo Ozuna bunted to the pitcher. Crain’s throw to third beat the runner, but third baseman Luis Rodriguez missed the tag.

Jon Garland pitched 7 2/3 innings and was in position to tie the Angels’ Bartolo Colon for the AL lead in wins at 17 before Minnesota rallied in the ninth against Dustin Hermanson (1-2) on Michael Ryan’s two-out line drive that deflected off first baseman Paul Konerko’s glove and rolled down the right-field line for an RBI double.

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Cleveland 12, Tampa Bay 4 -- Ronnie Belliard hit the first grand slam of his career during a seven-run third inning to lead the Indians at St. Petersburg, Fla. Jose Hernandez had three hits and three RBIs for Cleveland. The Indians’ Cliff Lee (14-4) improved to 5-0 in his last eight starts.

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Schilling’s shifts

Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling as a starter and reliever this season:

*--* G IP H ER SV/BS REC. ERA Starter 4 22 2/3 38 22 -- 1-3 8.73 Reliever 21 24 1/3 25 14 9/2 4-3 5.18 Totals 25 47 63 36 9/2 5-6 6.89

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