Josh Beckett

The Red Sox and Royals open a four-game series at Kauffman Stadium Thursday night at 8:10 p.m. ET. Boston will send ace Josh Beckett to the mound to matchup against Kansas City’s Luke Hochevar. While Beckett certainly has the advantage on paper, he was out-dueled by Hochevar in their last meeting, a 4-3 Royals victory on July 28 at Fenway.

Beckett (9-5, 2.40 ERA) broke a string of five-straight quality starts on Saturday against the Mariners, allowing five runs on eight hits in a 5-4 loss. The rough outing brought Beckett’s ERA above 2.30 for the first time since May 4, although his current rating is still third-best in the majors. The loss against Seattle marked just the third time in the last three months the Red Sox have lost one of Beckett’s starts. One of those losses came against Hochevar and the Royals, when Beckett allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits over seven innings.

August has been the right-hander’s worst month so far this season, as Beckett’s gone 0-1 with a 4.24 ERA. He’s given up five home runs in his three starts this month and has allowed eight runs on 20 hits in 17 innings. Beckett has excelled at home, but his ERA is 2.79 on the road, compared to 1.95 at Fenway Park. However, he’s holding opponents to a .188 batting average in away games, while Boston visitors are hitting .209 against him.

The Royals rank sixth in the league with a .267 batting average, but are hitting just .239 in 128 plate appearances vs. Beckett. Melky Cabrera has faced Beckett 44 times, mostly from his days in New York, and is hitting .308 with three doubles, three walks and a team-high four RBIs. Billy Butler has the only Royals home run off the right-hander, but he’s only managed two other hits in 17 matchups. Alex Gordon hasn’t performed much better, going just 2-for-10 with four strikeouts against Beckett.

Hochevar (8-9, 4.89 ERA) started August with two impressive outings, lasting seven innings and allowing just one run against the Orioles and Rays. However, he was knocked around a bit in his last appearance against the White Sox, who scored five runs on eight hits, including two home runs, through six innings.

Last month, the Royals won all five of Hochevar’s starts, despite the right-hander’s 5.93 ERA in July. Hochevar benefited from an offensive explosion, as the Royals averaged nine runs per game in those five outings. At Fenway Park on July 28, Hochevar held the Red Sox to two runs on six hits over seven innings while striking out six hitters and walking one.

The Red Sox have handled Hochevar well in his four-year career, hitting .333 in 92 combined plate appearances. David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Jason Varitek each have home runs off the Royals starter, and Ortiz is tied with Jacoby Ellsbury with a team-high 4 RBIs. Ellsbury is hitting .313 vs. Hochevar in 17 plate appearances with two triples and a walk.

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John Lackey

With the series tied 1-1, the Red Sox and Royals will play for the upper hand in a four-game set Wednesday night at Fenway Park, with two veteran pitchers taking the mound. A slowly improving John Lackey will start for the Red Sox and try to build on his 4.57 July ERA, his best month so far this season. The Royals will turn to Bruce Chen, who’s been a bright spot in Kansas City’s struggling rotation, which ranks 27th or worse in ERA, quality starts and batting average against.

Lackey (8-8, 6.28 ERA) started the month of July with a putrid performance, allowing seven runs in 2 1/3 innings against the Blue Jays, but he’s steadily improved over his last three starts. Since July 9, he’s 3-0 with a 1.95 ERA, including an impressive seven-inning, one-run start against the Mariners in his last outing. Granted, the Mariners rank 30th in the majors in runs, batting average and on-base percentage, but the win brought Lackey’s record back to .500, a confidence boost for any pitcher.

The Royals have had their typical struggles this season, although most of their issues have come from the pitching staff. At the plate, Kansas City ranks 11th in runs scored, fifth in batting average, and ninth in on-base percentage. Lackey hasn’t faced a top-10 offense since July 4 against the Blue Jays, when he gave up those seven runs.

The Red Sox have home field advantage Wednesday night, but Lackey has looked more comfortable on the road this season. In nine starts at Fenway, he’s 5-4 with a 6.75 ERA, allowing opponents to hit .301 off him. Still, two of his three consecutive wins have come in Boston.

Aside from Melky Cabrera, not many of the Royals hitters have substantial experience against the Boston starter. In 32 career plate appearances, Cabrera is hitting .379 with three doubles and an RBI. Billy Butler has seen Lackey eight times and has three hits and an RBI. In seven plate appearances, Alex Gordon is 2-for-6 with two strikeouts. As a team, the Royals are hitting .327 vs. Lackey with three walks and 12 strikeouts.

The Royals rotation has been a bit of a mess this season, but Chen (5-3, 3.30 ERA) is having one of the best seasons of his 12-year career. He’s started just 12 games but has managed to stay relatively consistent in spite of his sporadic schedule. Dating back to April 3, the Royals won six of Chen’s first seven starts while he posted a 3.59 ERA. After two losses in June, the 34-year-old has returned to form this month, going 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA.

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Wilson Betemit

According to several reports, the Tigers have traded minor league prospects Antonio Cruz and Julio Rodriguez to the Royals for third baseman Wilson Betemit.

Detroit’s Brandon Inge has had the worst season of his career at third base, hitting .177 with one home run and 17 RBI entering Wednesday. Betemit, 29, is hitting .281 with three home runs and 27 RBI in 58 games this season.

Between Inge and Don Kelly, the Tigers have had the second-worst OPS at the third base position (.500) in the majors, ahead of only the Mariners and Chone Figgins (.463).

The Tigers are first in the American League Central at 51-45.

The Royals are already out of playoff contention and will assume the role of trade deadline sellers once again. This time around, ESPN’s Jason Churchill thinks Kansas City can make a big step in the rebuilding process by shopping Alex Gordon.

The 27-year-old’s stock has never been higher. He’s hitting .299 with 11 home runs, 50 RBI and 50 runs scored entering the All-Star break. According to Churchill, Gordon is one of the top trade pieces in baseball, and could be swapped for a solid number three starter or a package of prospects.

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — By his own admission, Mike Lowell’s 1-for-5 performance for Triple-A Pawtucket wasn’t his best day.

But a veteran like Lowell knows what to get out of a start as a DH in a minor league rehab assignment. Especially when it’s your first in live game action in over four weeks.

“It was alright,” Lowell said. “I think for seeing live pitching for the first time in over a month it was kind of so-so. I think my timing was off a little. I felt a lot more comfortable as at-bats went on. Obviously, there’s a purpose to being here.”

Lowell made his first rehab start for Triple-A Pawtucket on Thursday night and went 1-for-5 in Pawtucket’s 5-4, 10-inning win over Toledo as the veteran infielder attempts to come back from yet another bout with a strained right hip. Scouts were on hand at McCoy stadium from the Blue Jays, Orioles, Tigers and Royals.

With one out and a runner on third in the first inning, Lowell popped out weakly to second base on a 1-1 pitch. He struck out on four pitches in the third and flew out several feet from the warning track in left leading off the sixth. In his final at-bat in the eighth, Lowell grounded out to third after Daniel Nava reached second base on a throwing error to open the inning.

With none out and Nava at first in the bottom of the 10th, Lowell hit a bloop single to shallow center to move Daniel Nava to third before Nava scored the game-winning run on a single by Lars Anderson down the right field line. Lowell went on the disabled list on June 23 with a strained right hip and received a shot in the hip on Monday.

But most importantly – at least for Lowell himself – he ran out of the batter’s box in the eighth and tenth innings without any pain.

“I’m not anticipating waking up in any pain,” he said with a typically dry smile. “My biggest concern was the running and that felt good so I’m happy with that. I definitely want to swing bat better.”

Lowell will get the day off on Friday as Pawtucket opens a weekend series in Columbus, Ohio. Lowell expects to play back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday, including playing one of the games as a third baseman.

Nava, playing his first game back at Triple-A since being optioned earlier in the day, tied the game, 3-3, on a long three-run homer in the third. Nava batted .286 in 29 games for Boston, including a grand slam on the first pitch he saw in the majors against Philadelphia at Fenway Park on June 12.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — According to FoxSports.com, the Red Sox spoke to the Royals roughly 10 days ago about the availability of outfielder David DeJesus, who is hitting .326 with a .395 OBP and .855 OPS for the fourth-place club. The report said that the clubs plan to stay in contact about the left-handed hitting outfielder.

A major league source said that the cost of acquiring the outfielder, who is on a $4.7 million deal this year with a $6 million option for 2011, is currently rich, and considered it unlikely that the Sox would pursue DeJesus unless Kansas City seeks less in return than is currently the case. That said, outfield production remains an obvious area for potential improvement on the Sox, given that the team’s injury-depleted unit has a collective .758 OPS that ranks 11th in the American League, a .258 average that is 12th and a .326 OBP that is 13th.

While both Jeremy Hermida and Jacoby Ellsbury are slated to return from their rib injuries in the second half, there is some question as to what kind of production the Sox might get from those two players after substantial time on the disabled list, or from Mike Cameron, who has been fighting to stay on the field while playing with an abdominal strain.

The hottest hitter in the Red Sox lineup happens to also have the best average of any regular. Not only is Adrian Beltre leading the team with his .342 average, he is batting .476 with three homers and 13 RBIs in his last 11 games. He is tied for sixth in the American League with 20 multi-hit games.

When they signed Beltre in the off-season, the Red Sox knew they were getting a third baseman with one of the best defensive reputations in the game.

They also knew they were getting an aggressive batter, who has been known to swing from his heels. Like this week in Tampa Bay when he hit one of his two home runs from his knees.

But whether it’s swinging for the downs or singling to right field in the second inning and scoring the only run in Boston’s 1-0 win, Beltre has been hitting everything, and hitting it well.

“It’s not like he really cuts his swing down a ton,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said on Sunday. “When you talk to him, he talks about trying to see the ball longer, which certainly makes sense to me.

Beltre entered Sunday having hit safely in 10-of-11 games, with at least two hits in seven of those 10.

“Sometimes I think it’s a little bit of everything,” Francona said. “There’s confidence, you get into a streak where things are happening in your favor and you feel good about things and you’re not afraid to get deep in the count because you’ve had success putting the bat on the ball.

“He’s gone through a really good run here where he’s a really aggressive hitter and he’s getting balls in the zone and driving them. He’s getting balls out of the zone and getting hits. His bat is staying through the zone a long time.”