Things went pretty well for most of this game. In fact, I’d really like to pretend that the last inning didn’t happen, that the Red Sox took 3 of 4 from the AL-leading Royals, and that things were now looking up for the rest of the season. But that’s not what happened.

Boston struck first in the bottom of the 2nd. Rusney Castillo got aboard on an unfieldable chopper over the mound and Jackie Bradley, Jr. knocked him in on the first pitch he saw from Kansas City starter Edinson Volquez, taking an outside fastball to left center for an easy double. Josh Rutledge, batting from the 9-hole, followed that up with a tough at-bat that culminated in a very clean line drive RBI single up the middle. 2-0, Red Sox.

Eduardo Rodriguez, who’d gone 1-2-3-4-5-6 to that point, immediately gave up two singles, a sacrifice bunt, and a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 1 in top of the 3rd. And in the 4th, Rutledge absolutely biffed an inning-ending double play opportunity (letting it go through his legs), which led to a bad throw/catch from Mookie Betts and Pablo Sandoval trying to catch Eric Hosmer at third, which led to Hosmer scoring and Kendrys Morales standing on second base. Definitely up there in contention for Worst Defensive Red Sox Play of 2015. Mike Moustakas doubled to drive Morales in and give the Royals a 3-2 lead. Moustakas also took Rodriguez deep to left in the 6th to extend the lead to 4-2.

In the bottom half of the 6th, though, the Red Sox offense put together one of two clutch two-run innings. Sandoval led off with a double off the Monster and Bogaerts bunted him over to third. Ortiz then hit a fly ball that ALMOST caught the Monster, but had to settle for a sacrifice fly instead. 4-3, Royals. But Boston wasn’t done – with 2 outs, Travis Shaw doubled and Castillo singled through the right side to tie the game at 4. Hosmer cut off the throw home to catch Rusney in a rundown, but the damage was done.

The Sox got another two runs in the 7th after the Royals failed to bring Alcides Escobar in from third in the top half of the inning. Ryan Hanigan had a line shot single to left and Jackie Bradley grounded a double down the right field line on a Volquez curveball, scoring Hanigan all the way from first (with some help from a high relay throw). 5-4, Boston. With no outs, Josh Rutledge somehow managed to get a bunt down on a pitch that might’ve otherwise hit him, advancing Bradley to third. After Betts lined out and Volquez was replaced by former Red Sox reliever (and moonlighting starter) Franklin Morales, Sandoval managed to score Bradley on the ugliest infield single you’ll ever see to give the Red Sox a late 6-4 lead.

Tommy Layne and Jean Machi managed to get Boston through to the 9th inning, which was one of the most bizarre half-innings of baseball I’ve seen in a good while. Junichi Tazawa came in for the save opportunity, and right away, things got weird.

To recap that for the video-impaired: Tazawa hung a splitter middle-in to light-hitting second baseman Omar Infante. Infante took it to left, where it hung up in the air for a full 7 seconds. Jackie Bradley was expecting it to hit the wall. It did not. Instead, it flew past Bradley’s glove, hit the ground, bounced up and off the top of the scoreboard past Bradley’s outstretched bare hand, and rolled back toward the infield as Infante rounded third for home. At this point, Bradley (in one fluid motion) picked up the ball, cocked it back, and delivered a perfect strike on two bounces to Hanigan at home plate. And as it turns out, the throw didn’t even need to be as good as it was, because the rain had turned the dirt around home plate to mud, so when Infante tried to slide into home, he stopped dead about a foot short, where Hanigan tagged him out.

SO. After a first at-bat like that, the Sox must’ve gotten all the demons out, right? Wrong, obviously. Mendoza-flirting catcher Drew Butera singled through the right side. So did Alcides Escobar. Bogaerts saved a run with this absolutely spectacular grab, and could’ve ended the game if he’d looked for the double play at first more quickly. At this point, it had become very apparent that Tazawa just didn’t have it. Even with a two-run lead and two outs, he’d need some luck to escape.

He didn’t get it. Lorenzo Cain singled (through the right side, obviously) on the very next pitch. And Hosmer singled past a diving Sandoval to score two and tie the game at 6. Bradley had a chance to throw Escobar out at home but gave it too much and pulled his throw left. At this point, I was still hoping they’d get out of the inning without a deficit. But Morales walked on a full count to load the bases again. And Moustakas fouled off five consecutive pitches on a 2-2 count before doubling to the gap in right center. Two runs scored, and Rutledge’s good relay throw to get Morales out at home to end the inning was the smallest of consolations. Safe to say: NOT a good outing for Junichi. As Don and Jerry noted, he really didn’t even get any legitimate outs.

Bradley singled to lead off the bottom of the 9th, but no one else did anything. 8-6, Royals, final.