ng this week and well see how he deals with that and t | Forum

BOSTON -- Ian Kennedy shoots for a club record and the Kansas City Royals look to continue a second-half push when they open a three-game series against the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Friday night. Marcos Rojo Jersey .The veteran right-hander, who faces knuckleballer Steven Wright on Friday, has had five straight outings of at least six innings and one earned run or fewer, matching Larry Guras club mark set in 1981.Kennedy (8-9, 3.58 ERA), who signed a five-year, $70 million free agent contract with the Royals this past offseason, is 2-0 with an 0.79 ERA over those five games, lowering his ERA from 4.41 to 3.58. In his last start, Kennedy, who had been a victim of non-support, cruised to a 10-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins with eight shutout innings.Thats five starts in a row where hes been completely in control. Hes just been throwing the ball extremely well, manager Ned Yost said after Kennedys last start.Kennedys surge has coincided with the defending World Series champions second-half charge. The Royals have won 10 of their last 11 after a 5-3 victory in Miami on Thursday night. They have won their last six series and are four games out of a wild card spot and seven away from the American League Central lead.Kennedy and Wright matched up May 18 in Kansas City, with Wright getting the loss and Kennedy a no-decision. Wright, one of the real surprises of the 2016 season, comes off the disabled list Friday to open Bostons six-game homestand.Wright (13-5, 3.01), who is 5-0 since his last loss two months ago, was used as a pinch runner against the Dodgers in Los Angeles and suffered a right shoulder injury diving back into second base.He threw a bullpen session in St. Petersburg, Fla., and was pronounced ready to make his first appearance since Aug. 6.The Red Sox just finished a four-city, 7-4 road trip that actually ended poorly, with two painful losses to the last-place Rays. They lost rookie left fielder Andrew Benintendi to a knee injury Wednesday and come home for six before going back out to the west coast as their treacherous second-half road grind continues.We had a winning road trip, Boston manager John Farrell said after Thursdays loss. We had to go out and put up a winning record, weve done that. But despite being 7-4 (on the road trip), theres times you look back, today being one of them, that you could have possibly capitalized.Despite the two losses, the Red Sox remained tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for the AL East lead, with the Baltimore Orioles a game behind.The Royals, 17-6 in August after a 7-19 July, still have work to do but a 2-1 start to a six-game road trip kept the momentum going.Kennedy, making his second career start at Fenway, has significant National League numbers against some Red Sox with Hanley Ramirez 4-for-24 and former teammate Aaron Hill 5-for-13 against him. David Ortiz, who has 30 homers and 100 RBI in his farewell season, is 3-for-6 with a homer against Kennedy.The current Royals are just 9-for-45 (.200) as a team against Wright.There is still no prognosis on Benintendi, originally diagnosed with a sprained left knee.Ill have more tests tomorrow and well take it day by day, he said Thursday. Theres nothing I can do about it now so Ill wait until the tests come back. Im going to try to stay as positive as I can. Enzo Perez Jersey . After Martin Skrtel put the Reds in front from close range at Stamford Bridge after only four minutes, Hazard hit back in the 17th with a superb strike. Etoo gave Jose Mourinhos team a decisive lead from Oscars back pass in the 34th. Custom Argentina Soccer Jersey . Barcelona also left injured defenders Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba out of its squad for the trip to Glasgow. That means that Marc Bartra will probably start again in the centre of the defence alongside Gerard Pique. http:///...Copa-America-Jersey/ . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . The Wallabies expect David Pocock to be available to overcome a concussion to face Scotland this weekend, while injured hooker James Hanson could be back in training next week.Pocock sent a brief shock through the Australian camp when he was forced out of Saturdays win over Wales with concussion.The powerful 28-year-old - who was started at blindside flanker against Wales, for the first time in his career - was understood to have been furious at being benched by the match doctor, with Cheika admitting he was given a spray by his star forward over the substitution.The Wallabies will adhere to all the head injury assessment protocols but remain confident hell be able to line up at Murrayfield for Saturdays second leg of the Spring Tour - and the next hurdle to clear towards winning the grand slam.Im confident that hell be playing, Cheika said on Monday.There were fears Hansons tour could be over after he underwent surgery on a fractured jaw last week, which allowed Waratahs youngster Tolu Latu tto face Wales and become the Wallabies 12th debutant this year. Carlos Tevez Jersey. However, its hoped Hanson, after having four plates inserted into his face last week, will resume training next week with a view of being available for the tour-ending clash with England on December 3, or potentially the crucial showdown with Ireland the week before.(Hansons) massive (swollen) jaw is starting to reduce a little bit, every day its getting smaller and smaller, Cheika said.The surgeons gave quite a bright picture for the next few weeks ... Obviously hes not going to be in line for anything this week and well see how he deals with that and then from there well make some decisions.Ideally hes going to stay with us all this week. Well have a look and see what his comeback is like and if we feel like hes an option to play in the last few games, and then well make a call from there. ' ' '