After Travis Shaw's three-run homer brought the Red Sox to within one run with three innings to play, a comeback in Kansas City seemed possible. But Koji Uehara's disasterous eighth inning, in which the reliever committed a throwing error and surrendered a long home run to Paulo Orlando, spelled defeat.
Boston took an early lead when Jackie Bradley's double scored Shaw (3-for-4) in the second inning. Bradley's hitting streak is now at 22 games.
Rick Porcello (5-8-5-2-3, 106) started to fall apart in the third. Orlando led off with a triple and scored the game-tying run on a groundout.