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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Bruce Chen had the Boston Red Sox popping up and out. Chen outdueled Jon Lester and the Kansas City Royals defeated the Boston Red Sox 5-1 Thursday night. The Royals won for the 16th time in 20 games since the All-Star break. The Red Sox, who have the best record in the American League, lost for only the third time in 10 games. Chen retired 15 on fly-ball outs. "A phenomenal job," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "He was ahead in the count most of the night. He commanded the ball down, commanded the ball up, changed speeds. Anytime you see a lot of popups, out-front swings, you know Bruce is on his game and he got an awful lot of them tonight." Chen, who was making his fifth start since beginning the season in the bullpen, did not allow a runner past first base until the eighth and retired 11 in a row in one stretch. He gave up five singles, walked one and struck out two before leaving with two outs in the eighth inning. "Movement on the ball," Chen said of the high number of fly outs. "They see it and at the last moment, it cuts or sinks or theyre a little bit out in front. I think, also, the combination of different pitches, not repeating the same pitch or same pattern has to help. Brett (Hayes, the catcher) did a really good job of reading the hitters." Hayes, who was just called up from Triple-A Omaha, had not caught Chen since spring training. "Bruce was being Bruce," Hayes said. "He kept hitters off balance, throwing all of his pitches for strikes, making them chase and out in front. Hes just a veteran who knows how to pitch. Anybody who pitches like that is fun to catch, especially him." Red Sox manager John Farrell was impressed with Chen. "He varied his arm angle, varied his speed, stayed out of the middle of the strike zone, then he would elevate to give us a different look," Farrell said. Luke Hochevar got the final four outs for his second career save. Lester (10-7), who came into the game with a 6-2 record and 1.64 ERA in nine starts against the Royals, needed 41 pitches in the first inning when Kansas City sent eight men to the plate and scored three runs. Jonny Gomes fielding error on Alex Gordons fly to left made two of the runs unearned. Lorenzo Cain, who opened the inning with a double, scored on Gomes misplay. Mike Moustakas two-out single to right with the bases loaded scored Billy Butler and Gordon to make it 3-0. "Moustakas had a huge hit to put us by three," Yost said. Rubby De La Rosa replaced Lester in the eighth and Butler hit his first pitch out to centre for his 10th home run. Justin Maxwell homered with two outs to make it 5-0. "Obviously it was a long first, a lot of pitches," Lester said. "I knew I had to somehow grind my way through it and get seven, save the bullpen. Thats something you have to learn to do, to find a way in those outings to go six or seven or maybe eight, and I was able to do that." Lester, who was roughed up for six runs and 11 hits in 4 1-3 innings by Arizona in his previous start, shut down the Royals after the first, allowing just two more singles in seven innings. "I thought he righted himself and did a tremendous job to go seven and give us an opportunity to win," Farrell said. Stephen Drew, who had two hits to extend his hitting streak to a season high nine games, singled home Gomes in the ninth for the only Red Sox run. "Bruce is the star of the game," Butler said. "He absolutely pitched his game. He held down a pretty good offence." NOTES: The Royals optioned LHP Danny Duffy to Triple-A Omaha and purchased the contract of LHP Francisley Bueno from their Pacific Coast League affiliate. ... Daniel Nava came off the paternity leave list and started at first base for the Red Sox, who optioned RHP Steven Wright to Triple-A Pawtucket. ... DH David Ortiz, who had started 95 games, was not in the Red Sox lineup. "Its not injury related," Farrell said. "Its just a day. Truth be told, wed expected more off days overall than he has been." ... Red Sox RHP Clay Buchholz, who went on the disabled list June 18 with a neck strain, is scheduled to throw 25-30 pitches off the mound Friday.Archie Manning Saints Jersey . Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night. Marcus Davenport Saints Jersey .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar took over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. http://www.authenticsaintssportsonline.com/saints-drew-brees-gold-jersey/ . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. Taysom Hill Saints Jersey .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar took over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. TreQuan Smith Jersey . Aduriz headed home Markel Susaetas cross in the sixth minute to open the scoring at San Mames Stadium. He bettered that with a long-range blast that went in off the goal frame in the 18th, and converted a penalty in the 72nd after Diego Mainz was sent off for fouling Aduriz with only the goalkeeper to beat.Fast bowler Joe Mennie is almost certain to make his Test debut in Hobart after Peter Siddle was ruled out due to a back injury.Australias selectors have also called on Jackson Bird as cover for the bowling unit but he is not officially part of the squad, which means Mennie is set to join Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc in the pace attack for the second Test against South Africa, starting on Saturday. Mennie was named 12th man for the WACA Test and was then released to play a Sheffield Shield match for South Australia.Siddle was preferred in Perth, where he was making his return to international cricket following a lay-off due to a stress fracture of the back, diagnosed following Australias Test tour of New Zealand earlier this year. Australias medical staff are hopeful that Siddle will recover quickly, but have taken a cautious approach due to his recent history.Peter Siddle had some lower back soreness at the conclusion of the first Test match in Perth, Australias team physio David Beakley said. Whilst we expect bowlers to be sore after Test matches, this was slightly worse than we expected and given that he was returning from a significant back injury, we organised some scans today.The scans demonstrated some low grade bone oedema around his old stress fracture that is likely to be a flare-up of his previous lower back injury. We are hopeful that this will resolve relatively quickly, but have withdrawn him from the squad for the second Test match in Hobart. We will monitor his recovery and have a better idea of when he will return to play in the next week or so.Siddles injury is yet another consequence to be drawn from Australias horrid batting collapse on day two of the WACA Test, sending Australias bowlers - Siddle and Starc with limited preparations - back into the field only 24 hours after they had bowled the Proteas out on day one. The coach Darren Lehmann said back-to-back Tests would stretch his men physically after they were made to work hard by JP Duminy and Dean Elgar in particular.They have bowled four days in a row, Lehmann said. They are pretty sore as I would imagine the South African boys would be, the two bowlers that bowled the whole game for them. All bowlers are going to be pretty sore and tight. Well just have to see how they pull up and make a call from there. They will have the same issues.Its a short turn-around. Thats the nature of cricket in Australia, back-to-back Test matches early on. The good thing, I thought we batted a lot better in the second innings. The disappointing thing is we were off to flyer, obviously 0 for 158, and we lost 10 for 86.dddddddddddd Thats the thing that hurts you in a game, as you know. If we had the discipline and that in the first innings that we showed probably yesterday and today, we would have made a better score and a better fist of it in the first innings and had a lead.Thats the challenge, isnt it? First innings, they made us pay in the second, Duminy and Elgar batted really well. I thought our bowlers worked hard the whole game and then coming in, if we had batters in in the last session today, well, you never know, do you? We just lost batters at the wrong time.Asked about Australias limited preparation, one Sheffield Shield match, and moving the first Test of summer from Brisbane to Perth, Lehmann said his hands were tied: Cant do anything about it. Love to, but we cant.The selectors had already added Callum Ferguson and Joe Burns to the Test squad to replace the injured Shaun Marsh (broken finger) and also provide cover for Adam Voges (hamstring). Lehmann confirmed both batsmen would be under consideration even if Voges is passed fit, placing further pressure on the underperforming Mitchell Marsh.We have known about the broken finger for about three days, which has been very good from our boys not to get out to you guys, Lehmann said. We have known the squad is going to be changed in the last three days. I would say every spot is under pressure. Thats the nature of the beast if you dont have success. I thought he batted quite well and was a bit unlucky with the decision, but that is part of the game as well.Lehmann acknowledged that the national team were under a rare level of pressure, as four consecutive Test match losses have historically led to a change of the Australian captain or coach. [Well] Try to clear their minds, he said of the players. But everyone has pressure. Everyone has pressure when not playing well. But also as a player you always have pressure to perform at international level.If you have a few bad performances, there is always someone waiting in the wings. And thats been the case for 100 years, thats not going to change I wouldnt think. We try and pick and stick where we possibly can and encourage the guys and we get in trouble when we dont pick and stick, we get in trouble when do pick and stick with you guys. So then when we add someone, it all changes.So, there is pressure on players day in, day out for your country and thats part and parcel of whether you are playing for South Africa or Australia. ' ' '