Royals Find a Way to Beat Red Sox, 10-9

Kansas City Royals Manager Buddy Bell was close to lifting Joey Gathright from the game after he twisted his right ankle while chasing David Ortiz’s triple in the third inning.

Good thing Bell didn’t.

Gathright hit a go-ahead, two-run double with two out in the ninth, and the Royals put another dent in Boston’s playoff hopes with a 10-9 victory over the Red Sox on Friday night.

“Going into the ninth inning, we just felt like we needed to go out there and do something,” Gathright said. “And we did. We stepped up.”

Mike Sweeney homered and had three RBIs for the Royals. After giving up six runs in the eighth inning and falling behind, 9-8, they scored twice against Mike Timlin in the ninth to extend their winning streak over Boston to four games.

Emil Brown led off with a single, Ryan Shealy was hit by a pitch and pinch-hitter Andres Blanco sacrificed. One out later, Gathright lined a double down the first base line.

“It was a huge win for us,” Sweeney said. “When we get down in the ninth, usually we crumble. I got the boys fired up and told them, ‘Hey we’ve got to keep charging, this is our game to win.’ ”

Kansas City swept a three-game series against the Red Sox at home from Aug. 8-10, starting a 10-21 stretch for Boston.

The Red Sox dropped 6 1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins in the wild-card standings.

“It’s disappointing, but stuff happens,” Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis said. “Things haven’t been going well right now. We’ve got to step it up in these situations.”

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ROUNDUP

Oakland 8, at Tampa Bay 6: Nick Swisher hit a grand slam to lead the West Division-leading Athletics. Huston Street, activated from the 15-day disabled list before the game, pitched the ninth to pick up his 30th save.

at Baltimore 9, New York 4: Melvin Mora, Jay Gibbons and David Newhan homered for the Orioles, who chased Cory Lidle while building a 7-0 lead in the second inning. Lidle retired only five batters in his shortest outing of the season.

at Minnesota 9, Detroit 5: The Twins, who had scored more than two runs just twice in their previous 11 games, pulled to within four games of the Tigers in the Central Division.

at Chicago 7, Cleveland 6: A.J. Pierzynski hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning after closer Bobby Jenks blew a save by giving up four straight doubles in the top half.

at Seattle 7, Texas 2: Richie Sexson set a Mariners record with his fifth grand slam of the season.