Sox grind out win over Royals, 4-3

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By Joe Haggerty
CSNNE.com Bruins InsiderFollow @hackswithhaggs

BOSTONIn the end all the Sox wanted was a measly little win, and thats exactly what they earned.

Without the ailing David Ortiz or Kevin Youkilis and locked into a rut of four losses in their previous six games headed into Thursday nights tilt with the Kansas City Royals, the Sox eked out 4-3 victory over KC at steamy Kauffman Stadium.

The go-go Sox ran into a handful of outs on the base paths while working aggressively, but they also did just enough offensively with some gaping holes in their lineup while finishing with four stolen bases on the night.

The big blows were a couple of hits from Dustin Pedroia, who stepped up with so many of his teammates on the shelf. Pedroia smacked a two-run single up the middle in the top of the third inning, and collected the game-winner on a run-scoring single in the fifth that saw the second baseman also get gunned down trying to advance toward second base.

Josh Beckett was far from dominant, but he was just good enough to win in lasting seven innings and holding the Royals to three runs.

Luke Hochevar was nearly as good for the Royals, and things looked like they might go Kansas Citys way when Alex Gordon launched his 17th home run of the season over the left field fence in third frame. Gordons blast went opposite field on a Beckett breaking ball that actually a pretty fair piece of hitting, but it also represented the last bit of offense from the Royals.

After the home run, Beckett retired 14 of the final 18 batters he faced and scattered four singles in the final four innings. In all Beckett finished seven full walk-free frames and scattered three runs on seven hits while fanning four Royals hitters.

Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon locked things down over the final two innings to secure the one run win.

Joe Haggerty can be reached at jhaggerty@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http:twitter.comHackswithHaggs.

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