Kansas City @ Boston preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 27, 2016 ) Kansas City 3, Boston 8

The Boston Red Sox own the best offense in the majors and pulled out of a short funk with a convincing win on Saturday. The Red Sox will try to keep the hits coming and stay close to the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East race when they host the surging Kansas City Royals in the rubber match of a three-game series on Sunday.

Boston totaled seven runs in three consecutive losses that dropped it out of a tie for first place in the AL East but did one better than that total in Saturday’s 8-3 triumph as Mookie Betts, Hanley Ramirez and Xander Bogaerts homered and Dustin Pedroia flirted with history. The Red Sox sit one game behind the Blue Jays in the East and lead the AL wild card race, two games ahead of second-place Baltimore and three clear of the Detroit Tigers. The Royals are three games behind the Orioles for the second wild card and have not lost a series this month. Kansas City ace Danny Duffy endured a rare rough outing on Saturday, but the team has played its way back into contention with wins in 14 of its last 17 games.

TV: 8:08 p.m. ET, ESPN

PITCHING MATCHUP: Royals RH Yordano Ventura (9-9, 4.27 ERA) vs. Red Sox LH Eduardo Rodriguez (2-5, 5.11)

Ventura’s rise has coincided with the rest of his team streaking up the standings, and he is 3-0 with a 1.73 ERA in his last four starts. The Dominican Republic native breezed through six scoreless innings at Miami on Tuesday, scattering six hits and walking one while striking out six in the win. Ventura earned a win at home against Boston on May 17, when he surrendered four runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Rodriguez is making his first start since leaving a no-hitter after four innings at Baltimore on Aug. 16 with a left hamstring injury. The Venezuela native made it through a simulated game without incident at Tampa Bay earlier in the week and is hoping to continue a run in which he has allowed three or fewer earned runs in seven straight starts since coming back from the minors on July 16. Rodriguez faced Kansas City twice in his 2015 rookie campaign and went 1-0 while allowing a total of three earned runs in 12 1/3 innings.

WALK-OFFS

1. Pedroia recorded hits in 11 straight at-bats – one shy of tying the major-league record – before grounding into a double play in the eighth inning on Saturday.

2. Royals RHP Wade Davis (elbow) and RHP Kris Medlen (shoulder) totaled three scoreless innings of relief while LHP Jason Vargas (elbow) allowed four runs in five innings as the three worked in a rehab game at Triple-A Omaha on Saturday.

3. Boston C Sandy Leon is 1-for-17 in his last four games, dropping his batting average from .383 to .349.

PREDICTION: Red Sox 5, Royals 3