BOSTON -- For all of the wacky plays that preceded Red Sox closer Junichi Tazawa's ninth-inning duel with Mike Moustakas, Sunday's series finale at Fenway Park still came down to a classic battle at the plate.
Working with the bases loaded and two outs, Moustakas had worked Tazawa for nine pitches, taking two balls and at one point fouling off five in a row in the game-deciding showdown. As Tazawa's pitch count climbed higher, the right-hander finally relented, as the Royals' third baseman tattooed a two-run double into the right-center-field gap that sunk Boston to an 8-6 defeat.