KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Although he may never say so, John Farrell was probably just as happy to witness a miserable eighth inning from the visiting manager's office.
Tossed by plate umpire Bill Miller with two outs in the top of the seventh, Farrell was not in the dugout when Koji Uehara came out of the bullpen and gave up three runs -- with the help of Uehara's own two-base error -- as the Kansas City Royals cooled off the red-hot Boston Red Sox 8-4 Tuesday night.
Farrell was ejected apparently for arguing balls and strikes. After a called strike on Mookie Betts, Miller turned to the Red Sox dugout and made the "you're outta here" sign. Farrell came stomping out to home plate, gesturing strenuously in a brief but impassioned argument.
Uehara came on with one out in the eighth. He bobbled Omar Infante's sacrifice bunt and then threw wildly to first. Salvador Perez came all the way around from first to make it 6-4, and Infante wound up on third on what was ruled a single and an error. Paulo Orlando then made it a perfectly miserable night for the visitors by adding a two-run home run to the triple and two-run single he hit earlier off Rick Porcello.
Continuing his frustration at the hands of Kansas City, Porcello went five-plus innings, the first time in 16 starts he has gone fewer than six. One of the Royals' five runs was unearned, but after winning eight of his first 11 decisions against Kansas City, the right-hander has now dropped four straight.
Nevertheless, amid all the hoopla over David Ortiz's dazzling farewell and Jackie Bradley Jr.'s impressive hitting streak and a team home run binge nearing record proportions, let us not overlook Travis Shaw. His three-run home run off Yordano Ventura in the sixth gives him eight extra-base hits, 12 RBIs and 11 runs scored in his last eight games.
Ventura appeared to be tiring when Dustin Pedroia singled leading off the sixth and, two outs later, Hanley Ramirez was hit by a pitch. Shaw then cranked an 0-1 offering over the fence in right, slicing the lead to 5-4 and stretching Boston's home run string to 17 straight games, two shy of the team record.
Bradley's RBI double in the second inning stretched his hitting streak to 22 games, the longest in the majors this year. He's creeping up on Pedroia's 25-gamer in 2011, the last time a Boston batter hit in 20-plus straight in a single season. (Ortiz -- doesn't his name seem to pop up everywhere these days? -- hit safely in 27 straight from July 2, 2012, to May 7, 2013, taking time out for Achilles issues.)
Speaking of Big Papi, the Royals honored him in his last regular-season appearance in Kauffman Stadium with an infield ceremony before the game, giving him, among other things, bottles of Kansas City barbecue sauce. Still, he went 0-for-4, leaving the infield only once with a fly ball to deep center in the eighth.
Boston's nearly flawless running game came up empty against Royals catcher Perez, who threw out Xander Bogaerts on a close play when he tried to steal second in the eighth. Still, the Red Sox are 30-for-33, good for the best success rate in the majors.