Red Sox stop the bleeding

Boston had to start somewhere after eight straight defeats, and turning to Rick Porcello against the dreadful Royals proved to be the perfect storm. The Red Sox' right-hander was strong over six innings and Kansas City couldn’t overcome an early deficit in a 7-5 decision on Monday night at Fenway Park.

BOSTON -- For those Red Sox fans who might have forgotten, this is what it feels like to win a game.

 It had been eight long days since Boston last enjoyed such a thing, a period in which the club might well have fallen out of the American League playoff chase. The Red Sox require nights like this one at Fenway Park by the handful down the stretch if they’re going to scare Tampa Bay or Oakland for the last available October berth.

 Boston had to start somewhere after eight straight defeats, and turning to Rick Porcello against the dreadful Royals proved to be the perfect storm. The Red Sox right-hander was strong over six innings and Kansas City couldn’t overcome an early deficit in a 7-5 decision.

 Sam Travis powered a two-run homer to highlight a three-run bottom of the third inning, Rafael Devers added a solo shot in the fourth and Andrew Benintendi’s two-run double highlighted a three-run seventh. That was enough cushion for Porcello and three relievers to guide this one over the finish line, as the 33,636 fans on hand reveled in a rare sight.

 Porcello had allowed 36 earned runs over his previous seven starts and still found a way to win four of them. This victory was of the more conventional variety, as the right-hander scattered four hits and issued a pair of walks. Kansas City had a lone man reach third base against Porcello, as Cheslor Cuthbert passed by after knocking a two-out solo homer to left in the sixth.

 It was the fourth time in 23 starts this season Porcello has allowed one earned run or less. The last came on June 17 at Minnesota, a masterful 2-0 shutout in which he covered the first seven innings. Boston’s beleaguered rotation posted a 10.70 earned-run average over its previous eight starts.

 The Royals gifted the Red Sox their opening run, as an infield error in the third made it 1-0. Benintendi bounced into a 4-6-3 double play that threatened to kill the rally, but Travis jumped on a fastball from Mike Montgomery and sent a rocket off the light tower in deep left-center. That marked the 18th straight game Boston has homered at this venue, snapping a tie with the 1969 club to set a new franchise record.

 Devers visited the Monster Seats against Montgomery in the fourth, serving a curveball away just above the wall. Boston added on to what was a 4-2 lead in the seventh when Sandy Leon scored on a wild pitch and Benintendi snapped a liner to the corner in right against right-hander Scott Barlow.

 Somewhat befitting of the recent Red Sox' struggles, there was nothing easy about the late innings. Meibrys Viloria’s first big league homer scuffed up Nathan Eovaldi in the seventh and Bubba Starling parachuted a three-run homer over the Green Monster against Matt Barnes in the eighth. That made it a two-run game for Brandon Workman, who worked around a one-out double by Whit Merrifield in the ninth to earn his first save since July 17.