KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Red Sox decided on Monday night to recall infielder Deven Marrero and first baseman Sam Travis from Triple A Pawtucket. That was the easy part.
Finding them seats on a flight out of Providence or Boston was the difficult chore. Because of poor weather earlier this week that delayed some travelers, nothing was available that would get the players to Kauffman Stadium in time to face the Royals on Tuesday night.
It fell to vice president of major and minor league operations Raquel Ferreira to get the job done and she arranged for a private plane.
Marrero and Travis arrived at the stadium 2½ hours before first pitch.
Sometimes it’s all in the logistics. Marrero reached base three times and drove in a run and Travis had an RBI double as the Sox beat the Royals, 8-3.
At 40-31, the Sox moved into first place in the American League East, a half-game ahead of the Yankees. It is the first time this season the Sox have had sole possession of first place.
Chris Sale, who lost a 1-0 game in Philadelphia last Thursday, benefited from run support this time. He went 8⅓ innings, allowing three runs on four hits.
Sale (9-3) struck out 10 with one walk. He has 10 or more strikeouts in 10 of his 15 starts and leads the majors with 146. The Sox are 11-4 in his starts.
Sale went to the mound in the ninth inning with an 8-1 lead. He walked Whit Merrifield with one out before Jorge Bonifacio homered. After Brandon Moss singled, Fernando Abad came in and got the final two outs on a double play.
The Sox are 4-3 on a road trip that ends on Wednesday afternoon with Drew Pomeranz facing Ian Kennedy.
The Royals started rookie lefthander Matt Strahm, a relief pitcher until last week. He had a 1-0 lead after two innings before all the trouble started.
Marrero doubled to right field leading off the third inning and scored on a soft single to center field by Mookie Betts. Marrero read the ball perfectly from second base and scored easily.
The first four Sox had hits to open the fourth and knocked Strahm out of the game.
Jackie Bradley Jr. singled and scored on a double to the gap in left by Travis. Josh Rutledge followed with a hard-hit ball to third base. Mike Moustakas looked Travis back to second and waited too long to throw to first. Rutledge was safe on what was ruled a single.
After a wild pitch, Sandy Leon lined a two-run double up the gap in right field.
Scott Alexander replaced Strahm and threw another wild pitch. Leon then scored on Marrero’s sacrifice fly to center.
The Sox scored three runs on Kevin McCarthy in the sixth inning with the bottom of the order again playing a large role.
Leon singled with one out before Marrero walked. Chris Young, batting second against a lefty starter, doubled in Leon. Xander Bogaerts then singled to drive in Marrero and Young.
Bogaerts has an 18-game hit streak against Kansas City. In Sox history, only Jerry Remy (28 games from 1978-82) and Jacoby Ellsbury (21 games from 2009-13) have longer streaks.
Sale came into the game 9-10 in 31 career appearances against Kansas City, 20 of them starts. The losses are his most against any team.
Sale retired the first five batters he faced before Moustakas hit a long home run to right field, giving the crowd of 25,983 a brief moment of hope.
Moustakas has 19 home runs on the season, something the Red Sox will surely note if he becomes available on the trade market.
When the Sox gave Sale the lead in the fourth inning, he retired the Royals in order on 12 pitches in the bottom of the inning. He easily handled Kansas City from there.
Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.
