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Balanced Red Sox attack pounds Royals

KANSAS CITY -- Mookie Betts came within a single of hitting for the cycle, the Red Sox pounded out 16 hits and Wade Miley served up six scoreless innings in a 13-2 Father's Day blowout of the Royals on Sunday afternoon.

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Betts doubled, homered and tripled, giving him nine hits in the series in 14 at-bats.

"He's a special player," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "He can beat out an infield base hit, he can put down a bunt for a base hit, drive the ball out of the ballpark. It's a pretty special talent. You see the instincts on the field starting to flourish."

Hanley Ramirez and David Ortiz added solo shots for the Red Sox, who took two of three from the Royals.

Video: BOS@KC: Ramirez opens scoring with solo homer

"You just chalk it up to one of those days," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "Not really much to talk about. I told [bench coach Don Wakamatsu] in the ninth that it could be worse. And he said, 'How?' And I said, 'We could be getting beat 12-0 and it could be 100 degrees out.'"

Temperatures stayed in the 80s because of rain and a cloud cover.

Video: BOS@KC: Yost on tough loss to Red Sox

Miley gave up five hits, walked three and struck out two in notching his seventh win.

"I thought Wade made some big pitches to get out of that fourth inning when it's still a two-run game at the time," Farrell said of when Kendrys Morales and Alex Gordon singled to open the fourth. "We go out and put up a five-spot, and then again came out and made some big pitches to keep momentum on our side."

Video: BOS@KC: Miley pitches six scoreless, gets win

Chris Young came into the game with 13 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, but was battered for seven runs in 4 2/3 innings, his worst outing as a Royal.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Sox fifth-inning flare: After the Red Sox took a two-run lead with solo homers in both the second and fourth innings, Betts drilled a two-run homer with one out and brought in Sandy Leon, who was walked in the previous at-bat, to push the lead to 4-0. After Brock Holt grounded out to Young for the second out, Dustin Pedroia doubled into left-center and saw the bases load behind him with two consecutive walks. Then, Xander Bogaerts doubled into deep center field and scored all three, giving Boston a 7-0 lead and forcing Kansas City to replace Young with righty Jason Frasor. More >

Video: BOS@KC: Bogaerts clears the bases with a double

"I think just the extra-base abilities, up and down the lineup, is starting to come through a little bit more regularly," Farrell said. "We're swinging the bat with more authority, and certainly more like the capability this team has."

Early chance lost: The Royals didn't do much against Miley, but they did have a chance to jump on him in the first. With two outs, Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales singled, then Alex Gordon walked to load the bases. But Alex Rios flied out to center, ending the threat. The Royals finally broke through in the ninth with Lorenzo Cain's two-run triple.

Video: BOS@KC: Cain plates two runs with triple to center

"We did have some chances early on," Yost said. "And we hit some balls hard. We just didn't string enough together."

Betts does it again: Entering the game 6-for-9 in the series, Betts fell just a single short of hitting for the cycle with a double, triple and a two-run homer and finished 9-for-13 in Kansas City, with five runs, four RBIs, two home runs and a stolen base. He went 12-for-21 on the road trip, adding another run, double and RBI from the previous two-game stint in Atlanta. He has hit in 10 straight games and is 20 for his last 36.

Ortiz moves up all-time homer list: In the fourth, Ortiz crushed a solo home run to right field on an 0-1 pitch, moving him ahead of Hall of Famers Stan Musial and Willie Stargell on the all-time home run list with 476. It was Ortiz's 10th homer of the season. More >

Video: BOS@KC: Ortiz sends solo shot to right-field seats

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
The Red Sox's 13 extra-base hits were the most ever against the Royals. The previous high was 12 set by Seattle on May 11, 1996.

SUCCESSFUL CHALLENGE
The Royals challenged an out call at first in the fourth on the back end of a potential double-play grounder. Omar Infante was ruled out, but the call was overturned quickly -- in one minute, six seconds.

Video: BOS@KC: Infante reaches first after Royals challenge

WHAT'S NEXT
Red Sox: Boston will have Monday off before facing Baltimore on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. ET at Fenway Park to start a three-game homestand. Right-hander Joe Kelly (2-4, 5.32 ERA) will get the start. He is 1-1 with a 3.32 ERA in three career starts against the O's, who will send righty Ubaldo Jimenez to the hill.

Royals: Kansas City opens a three-game set at Seattle with right-hander Joe Blanton taking the mound Monday at 9:10 p.m. CT, opposing Mariners ace Felix Hernandez. Blanton (1-0, 1.80 ERA) made his first start in nearly two years Wednesday in Milwaukee in a 10-2 win. He went five innings and gave up one run.

Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.

Jeffrey Flanagan is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FlannyMLB. Jordan Wilson is an associate reporter for MLB.com.
Read More: Wade Miley, Hanley Ramirez, Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia, Xander Bogaerts, David Ortiz, Chris Young