The Kansas City Royals probably had just one word after Wednesday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox:
“Ouch.”
The Red Sox set a new franchise record for inflicting pain on an opponent. They hit five batters with pitches for the first time in Boston’s history, per Chris Cotillo.
Starting pitcher Dustin May got the party started with a pair of HBPs.
Left-handed reliever Chris Murphy kept it going with two more hit batsmen of his own.
Isaiah Campbell capped it off with one final hit batter.
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Interestingly, the Red Sox spread the wealth. They hit five different players.
Boston had already allowed 12 hits and walked two guys not even counting the HBPs. They definitely didn’t help matters.
The Royals won the game, 7-3, probably making everything feel a little bit better.
The Red Sox actually weren’t undone entirely by HBPs, though.
Murphy hit two guys but threw 2.1 scoreless innings.
Then in came Jordan Hicks, the only Red Sox pitcher on the day not to hit anyone, and he gave up three runs in his lone inning of work.
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So it’s one of those odd franchise records that will go into the book but has no real legacy.
Still, though, it’s quite remarkable. They’ve been playing Major League Baseball in Boston for a long, long time.
And on this random Wednesday in August, the Red Sox pitchers dished out a beating in a way they never had before. What that means, nobody knows, but it’s certainly something.
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