BOSTON (AP) – Manny Ramirez hit his AL-leading 30th homer then left the game after a collision with teammate Edgar Renteria, and the Boston Red Sox kept on winning, beating the Kansas City Royals 8-5 on Wednesday night.

The Red Sox matched their season high with their seventh straight win, while the Royals fell to 0-6 on the road trip that ends Thursday afternoon in Boston.

Ramirez hit a three-run homer in the first inning to increase his major league-leading RBI total to 100. He had bruises on the right side of his face and chest as he made the inning-ending catch on a fly ball to short left in the second.

He was replaced in the field by Gabe Kapler and was listed as day-to-day. Renteria stayed in the game until Doug Mirabelli pinch hit for him in the seventh.

Ramirez and Renteria remained on the ground for several minutes after the shortstop’s left arm hit Ramirez in the face just after the left fielder, racing in while his teammate ran out, reached down to make the catch.

Wade Miller (4-4) went six innings for the win, and Curt Schilling pitched the ninth for his seventh save in eight chances.

The Royals took a 4-3 lead with two runs in the second and two in the fourth. Boston then scored twice in the fourth and twice in the fifth, sending eight batters to the plate in each inning.

Ramirez’s second three-run homer in as many games made him the seventh major leaguer to reach 30 homers and 100 RBIs in at least eight straight seasons. The others are Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Babe Ruth and Albert Belle.

Ramirez and Foxx are the only players in Red Sox history with five consecutive 30-homer seasons.

Johnny Damon led off the game with a walk, took second on Renteria’s single and was thrown out at home on David Ortiz’s single. Ramirez then hit the first pitch from Kyle Snyder (0-3) into the seats in left.

But Miller, who missed his last scheduled start with shoulder stiffness, squandered the lead. He allowed a two-run homer by Emil Brown, his 10th of the season, in the second, then gave up two runs in the fourth on Mike Sweeney’s 16th homer and Angel Berroa’s RBI single after Brown’s triple.

The Red Sox took the lead in the fourth on Kevin Millar’s second double of the game, Tony Graffanino’s RBI single and Renteria’s sacrifice fly.

Boston made it 7-4 with two unearned runs in the fifth, one scoring on shortstop Berroa’s second error of the game and the other on Andrew Sisco’s wild pitch.

Notes: Ramirez’s homer was his 100th hit of the season. … Boston RF Jose Cruz Jr. got his 1,000th career hit with a single in the fourth. … Berroa made just four errors in his previous 44 games before making two in the first five innings Wednesday. … John Buck of the Royals was 1-for-18 before his double in the seventh. … The Red Sox won their season-high seventh consecutive home game.

AP-ES-08-03-05 2217EDT

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