Scutaro Misses Sign, Red Sox Lose To Royals In 14

Marco Scutaro couldn't believe what he was seeing when Josh Reddick started sprinting home after Scutaro took a pitch inside.

The problem was: Scutaro knew right away what a gaffe he had made.

Scutaro missed a suicide squeeze sign with Reddick on third base and one out in the 12th inning, and the Kansas City Royals scored twice two innings later to beat the Red Sox 3-1 in a rain-delayed game that ended early Tuesday morning.

"I just didn't see the sign," he said, with his head down as he got dressed at his locker. "My fault. It's my fault."

Reddick singled to lead off the 12th, and with one out he took two bases on an errant pickoff throw. But he was caught trying to steal home on the botched squeeze after Scutaro never squared around. Scutaro then lined a hit to left, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

"I made sure I double-checked with (third base coach Tim Bogar)," Reddick said. "I made sure I double-checked with him again so I didn't look like a fool out there."

The Red Sox wasted good chances in the 9th, 11th and 13th innings, too.

"I (messed) up," Scutaro said. "We had a lot of opportunities to win the game and we didn't make the plays."

The Red Sox had trouble scoring after they posted 12 runs in a win over Seattle on Sunday. Just over a week earlier, Boston beat Tampa Bay 1-0 in 16 innings and came back the next day and posted 15 runs in a win at Baltimore.

"I think we all missed our pitches a little bit," Reddick said.

Eric Hosmer doubled to lead off the Royals' 14th inning and scored when Mike Aviles bunted the ball over the head of charging first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, pushing Kansas City ahead.

Louis Coleman (1-2) went two innings and twice pitched out of jams for the win. Joakim Soria struck out three in the bottom of the 14th to earn his 18th save and send Boston to just its fourth loss in 21 games.

The Red Sox threatened to score five times in the last six innings, but the Royals made their best chance count. Hosmer doubled off Randy Williams (0-1) to start the 14th, but was held at third when Jeff Francoeur singled.

Aviles came to the plate and squared to bunt as the runners took off and the corner infielders charged in. He popped it up - a potential triple play - but the ball landed safely behind Gonzalez and out of the reach of second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was moving over to cover first.

Hosmer scored, and Francoeur came home on a sacrifice fly by Alcides Escobar to make it 3-1.

The Red Sox kept it interesting when Reddick doubled - his third hit of the game - with one out in the 14th. But Soria struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Scutaro to end it at 1:59 a.m. Tuesday. The start of the game was delayed by rain for 2 hours, 21 minutes.

Melky Cabrera had four hits, and Hosmer had three for the Royals, who won for the fifth time in six games. It was their 10th extra-inning victory - most in the AL, according to STATS LLC.

The Red Sox had their chances.

In the 13th, Jacoby Ellsbury drew a leadoff walk and, one out later, Gonzalez hit a sinking liner that bounced under Francoeur's glove. His leg kept it from going off the wall. Ellsbury wound up at third, and Gonzalez at first.

Again, Coleman pitched out of it. The fifth of six Kansas City pitchers went two innings and allowed three hits and a walk.