Betts' bat continues to be bright spot for Sox

KANSAS CITY -- Regardless of how the Red Sox reflect on a 7-4 loss to the Royals on Saturday night, there's no denying Mookie Betts just keeps getting better and better.

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After going 4-for-5 with an RBI in the series opener on Friday, Betts continued his torrid hitting on Saturday by drilling a leadoff homer to left-center on the third pitch of the game -- his seventh homer of the season.

Video: BOS@KC: Betts hustles from second, scores on grounder

"[I'm] just being aggressive, being aggressive to some pitches," Betts said. "I caught myself being a little lazy sometimes, and now I'm just trying to be a bit more aggressive earlier in the count and put the bat on the ball."

Betts also elected to lay down a sacrifice bunt in the third inning that advanced catcher Blake Swihart to third base and set up Brock Holt, who leads the team in batting average, for an RBI double.

"He's an exciting player," manager John Farrell said of Betts. "He bunts on his own in the second at-bat trying to advance the runner, knowing that Brock [Holt] is swinging the bat well. Ideally, we're continuing to look to build a bigger inning, but I felt like, 90 feet, you open up a number of opportunities with the guy behind him, so a baseball play on his part."

Betts finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and is now batting .548 (17-for-31) in his last eight games. That number improves to .577 (15-for-26) over his last six.

Unfortunately, those efforts fell mostly silent on Saturday night as the Red Sox dropped their ninth in 12 games.

"That's just how the Royals are," Betts said. "They never back down, they never quit until it's over, and it's important for us to play nine innings. They came back today, but tomorrow's a new day."