"Terry Francona called Josh Beckett's fourth inning yesterday uncharacteristic.

The Red Sox right-hander, meanwhile, said it was simply frustrating as the Kansas City Royals sent nine batters to the plate and scored four times en route to a 4-3 victory at Fenway Park.

Jacoby Ellsbury's two-RBI single in the third looked like it might be enough run support for Beckett, who faced the minimum through three. But the All-Star lost control quickly in the fourth.

Alex Gordon and Mitch Maier started it with leadoff walks. Billy Butler followed with a three-run homer to center. With one out, Jeff Francoeur reached second when Drew Sutton dropped his shot to left field, and Mike Moustakas followed with an RBI double to right. Kansas City ended up batting around, the first time that's been done against Beckett since May 7, 2010, by the New York Yankees.

"That's pretty (expletive) frustrating when your team scores two runs and you walk the first two guys," Beckett said. "They got a couple hits on balls on the outer half instead of on the corner. Bad pitches.""