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Things go bad to worse in a hurry for Red Sox

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Royals second baseman Raul A. Mondesi successfully turned a double play in front of a sliding Jackie Bradley Jr. in the third inning.Jim Davis

Eduardo Rodriguez left a one-out, bases-loaded mess for the Red Sox' bullpen in the sixth inning Sunday night, but he likely didn't think it would be as hard as it was to clean up.

Rodriguez walked Eric Hosmer, gave up a ground-rule double to Kendrys Morales, and handed Salvador Perez a free pass to first to start the inning, before finally getting Alex Gordon to fly out to center. After that, all Rodriguez could do was watch nervously from the dugout and hope the bullpen could figure out a way to wiggle out of the tight spot and keep the Sox' 4-2 lead intact.

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"It's hard when I get over there and the bases are loaded, leaving the game like that," Rodriguez said. "Especially when the hitters come in and score runs and give you a lead. Coming out of the game like that is really hard for me."

He watched what felt like a never-ending inning snowball into an eight-run disaster that buried the Sox in what was eventually a 10-4 loss.

As soon as Matt Barnes came out of the bullpen, he was walking into one of the highest-leverage situations he's been in all season. He started Alcides Escobar off with a curveball that just missed the outside of the plate. Then, he tucked a fastball in the bottom of the strike zone. Escobar chopping it high in front of the mound wasn't necessarily the worst possible outcome.

Barnes had to wait for it to fall, like a balloon leaking helium.

"It's awful," Barnes said. "You make your pitch and you're sitting there and you're like, 'Well, I can't really do anything.' I'm waiting for the ball to come down and I see the guy from third coming out of the corner of my eye and he's probably 8 or 9 feet [from the plate], so I'm like I either try to make the play and the quick shuffle to home or I take it and try to throw a missile to first.

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"I don't think I had a play anywhere, but I thought going to first was my best option — at least try and get one out that way I have a lot more leeway to work with coming with the next guy up, and unfortunately that didn't work out."

While Hosmer was racing toward the plate, Rodriguez was pointing from the dugout for Barnes to try to catch Escobar at first. Barnes's throw wasn't close to catching him, and Hosmer scored to make it a one-run game.

But what happened next was the last thing Barnes — or Rodriguez — needed.

Barnes tried to push a 98-mile-per-hour, first-pitch fastball by Raul Mondesi, but Mondesi sent it screaming into the triangle in center. Morales, Perez, and Escobar ran a relay around the bases, while Mondesi pulled into third standing with a three-run triple.

"I know he's a fastball hitter, but I went back and I saw the replay and I thought the pitch was on the black," Barnes said. "I thought it was a good pitch, I really did. If I miss middle-middle, I'll be the first one to tell you, 'Hey I missed my spot.' "

Rodriguez cringed in the dugout, on the hook for five runs on four hits and four walks in 5 innings.

And still, the inning wasn't close to being over.

After Mondesi's triple, Barnes came apart at the seams, hitting Paulo Orlando, letting Cheslor Cuthbert reach on a chopper that scored another run, then having Lorenzo Cain scorch an 3-and-1 fastball off the base of the Green Monster for an RBI single.

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When manager John Farrell came out from the dugout to take the ball from Barnes, the mess was worse than it was when he came in. Barnes gave up five runs on three hits, never recording an out.

Matt Barnes ended up on his knees after he tried but failed to throw out the Royals’ Raul Mondesi at the plate in the sixth ininng.Jim Davis

Robbie Ross Jr. came in trying to stop an avalanche with a hand shovel.

His first challenge felt like an impossible one. He was facing Hosmer, who not only had a track record for mashing at Fenway, but also had a small but scary level of success against Ross (2 for 4 with a homer).

Ross got ahead, 1 and 2, but left a curveball up in the zone that Hosmer shot off the Wall for a two-run single that put the Royals up, 10-4.

Ross gave up a single to Morales, then when he finally got Perez to bounce a slow roller down to third, he was showered with mock cheers.

The bad news: He still had one more out to get. Gordon's ground out to second mercifully ended a brutal inning, but all the damage deflated a Sox team that had rallied from a two-run deficit in the middle innings.

The bullpen's woes undermined David Ortiz hitting his 31st homer of the season, a blast that gave him 534 for his career, tying him with Jimmie Foxx for 18th on the all-time list. It also wiped out the three-run fifth inning sparked by two-base error on a Sandy Leon fly ball and a two-run single by Xander Bogaerts.

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"I thought we had a very good approach against [Yordano] Ventura tonight, who's got very good stuff," Farrell said. "We stayed in the middle of the field for the most part, David gets a fastball over the middle of the plate and does what he's done so many times with it. [Bogaerts] with a big base hit, men at second and third, it felt like things were starting to turn in terms of getting back to the approach with runners in scoring position. Unfortunately, we couldn't hold them back the following half."

Even though the Sox have won 11 of their last 17 (or lost four of their last five, depending on how your glass is filled), the loss only magnified the woes of a bullpen that's given up the third-most hits, the fourth-most runs and owns the sixth-worst ERA in the American League since the All-Star break.

Chris Young and the Red Sox had just gone ahead before the Royals posted eight in the sixth inningJim Davis/Globe Staff

Farrell said there weren't any immediate plans to shake things up in the bullpen.

"We haven't had that conversation yet," said Farrell. "Whether or not guys feeling the workload — [Barnes] came in tonight with plenty of rest — but we haven't talked about making changes internally prior to Friday in Oakland."

But Barnes said he still had confidence in that the unit can handle the job as things get more tense down the stretch.

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"Absolutely," Barnes said. "I think everybody in that bullpen believes in every single person down there. It's a long season, you're going to go through bumps. Our bullpen was incredibly good for the first couple months of this season. Our bullpen is still throwing the ball well.

"It just gets magnified a little bit coming down the stretch. I think everybody's got faith in every person down there to get the job done and understand that everybody's going to have an off night. That happens."


Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @julianbenbow.