KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Royals beat up Curt Schilling for four innings.

Boston’s ace took over the job from there.

“A starting pitcher can make his team look a lot worse than it really is on some days,” Schilling said after the Red Sox opened their season with a 7-1 loss on Monday. “Today was one of those days. I made mistake after mistake.”

Schilling, who hadn’t been pulled before the fifth inning since 1997, was just getting started.

“There’s nothing I can take from this,” he said. “I stunk. I didn’t improve. I got worse.”

Schilling (0-1) struggled with control all day, particularly on his off-speed pitches. He gave up five runs on eight hits, issued his first bases-loaded walk in almost two years and let the Royals mount one rally after another.

All five of their runs against him came with two out.

“I had my chances,” Schilling said. “I just didn’t execute.”

Kansas City had something to do with that, though.

“As a batter, you can’t always tell if a pitcher’s having a good day or a bad day,” said right fielder Mark Teahen, who was 2-for-4 and drove in a run. “There were just a couple of at-bats where I got pitches to hit and was able to put them in open areas.”

Schilling’s reputation might have worked against him by forcing the Royals to be patient.

When he couldn’t find the strike zone, they waited. When he fell behind in the count and had to come over the plate, they made him pay.

“We didn’t want to be too aggressive. When he threw strikes, we hit them,” said second baseman Mark Grudzielanek, who went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs. “When he didn’t, we stayed off. That was the difference.”

Schilling lasted only 2 2-3 innings against the New York Mets on May 22, 1997. In 281 starts since then, he had to come out early only once.

That was with Arizona on July 18, 2001, when a game in San Diego was suspended after two innings because a light bank blew. The game resumed the next day with Randy Johnson relieving Schilling.

Since that 1997 game, Schilling has had other difficult starts. The difference, he said, is that this time he didn’t adjust to not having his best stuff.

“One thing I’ve always preached to young pitchers is about the ability to make a mistake on a pitch and come back and make an adjustment on the very next pitch,” he said. “I didn’t do that today.”

And after four innings, Boston manager Terry Francona wasn’t willing to give Schilling one more shot at getting it right.

“Four innings, 89 pitches,” Francona said. “Those were four hard innings.”