April 29, 2003 ... The Kansas City Royals rolled into Fenway Park tonight, and just as quickly were rolled under by the Red Sox, who are a win away from matching the best April win total in team history after a 7-2 victory. Boston spotted Royals of Tony Pena a 2-0 lead on two home runs off Tim Wakefield, one a Monster-clearing shot by Mike DiFelice, the other on an ill-timed Trot Nixon belly-flop that allowed Carlos Beltran to circle the bases on an inside-the-parker.

That came in the sixth, when Pena briskly walked to the mound to replace starter Chris George, who had a 2-1 lead but had runners on the corners with one out. Pena, the former Roger Clemens battery-mate in Boston who has the Royals off to the best start in their history (17-6) after a 100-loss debut season in 2002 (he was there for 77 of those losses), summoned Jason Grimsley, who promptly went sacrifice fly, hit batter, single, single as the Sox scored three times.

That rally made a winner out of Wakefield (3-1), with assists to a Sox bullpen that welcomed back Alan Embree after a two-week hiatus on the disabled list, and third baseman Bill Mueller, who on a nightly basis is demonstrating that he deserves to play more than just half the time. Mueller, starting at third, had run-scoring singles in both the sixth and eighth and made the night's outstanding defensive play (on a night of multiple nominees) with a sprawling backhanded stop of a smash down the third base line by Michael Tucker. His at-bats, Grady Little said, were the key to the Sox' eighth win in 10 games at Fenway Park this season, a much better rate of return than the 42- 39 record the Sox had at home last year.

Mueller signed a two-year, $4.2 million deal with a $2.1 million option for a third season, not the kind of contract teams usually give bench players. But with Shea Hillenbrand playing so well and Little using three different first basemen and six different DHs, the script calling for him to start has been altered, at least temporarily. His play may force another rewrite, however.

Embree, who entered after Mike Timlin worked a 1-2-3 sixth that included his own barehanded pickup of a chopper and Mueller's robbery of Tucker, was taken to the warning track in center on the first pitch he threw, but Johnny Damon brought the ball down with a little hop. Embree then issued a walk to Mike Sweeney before retiring Raul Ibanez on a foul fly and catching Ken Harvey looking at a third strike.

The Sox eliminated any fears of another high-wire finish by scoring three runs in the eighth, when Pena's third choice to pitch, D.J. Carrasco, went single, double, hit batsman, and single, the last an RBI hit by Mueller that made it 6-2 and ushered in pitcher No. 4, Jeremy Hill. The Royals then showed they haven't lost all resemblance to last season's stumbling crew when a popup fell among five of them (it was turned into a force play), and catcher DiFelice snow-coned another popup.

With one day left on the April calendar, the Sox are 17-9, a win away from matching their victory total in 1998, when they went 18- 8. The Sox had picked up a game on the Yankees Sunday for only the third time in 25 games, and with Clemens losing last night, the home crowd of 30,438 had a chance to witness the Sox gaining ground on the Bombers on back-to-back dates for the first time this season.

Wakefield had men on base in each of his first five innings, but after Joe Randa's leadoff double in the fifth, he finished strong, setting down the last six Royals he faced. Wakefield had dodged a second-and-third, one-out jam in the second by striking out DiFelice and making a swift barehanded pickup of a Carlos Febles roller and strong throw for the final out. He left two more men in scoring position in the fourth, and struck out Sweeney with a runner on third in the fifth.

Nixon went for the shoestring catch of Beltran's sinking liner in the third but came up with nothing but a handful of Dave Mellor's grass, the ball taking a big hop past a prone outfielder and rolling into the right-field corner. Third-base coach John Mizerock didn't hesitate to wave home Beltran, who slid headfirst to barely beat Todd Walker's relay. But just as quickly, it passed. For all the bullpen-inspired crises this month, the Sox are not only afloat, they're cruising.

Garciaparra's three hits gave him five in his last two games, after an 0-for-19 streak. Garciaparra's first hit was an infield single, his team-leading fifth infield hit of the season. Kevin Millar had gone six games without an RBI before knocking in two with a sacrifice fly (the tying run) and an eighth-inning single.