(Sports Network) -- The Kansas City Royals have long been out of this season's playoff chase, but the young club has been doing its best to prevent a few contenders from boosting their postseason hopes down the stretch.

With ace Zack Greinke set to take the mound, the surging Royals take aim at a second consecutive victory over the Boston Red Sox when the teams continue a four-game series tonight at Kauffman Stadium.

Kansas City had its offense clicking in Monday's opener of this set, as the Royals erupted for six runs in the sixth inning to rally from a huge early deficit and post a 12-9 win over the Red Sox.

The Royals trailed 6-0 after 2 1/2 innings and 9-5 heading into the bottom of the sixth, but battered Boston relievers Manny Delcarmen and Daniel Bard to forge ahead. Alex Gordon tied the score at 9-9 with an RBI double off Bard, and Yuniesky Betancourt followed with a two-run single to put Kansas City in front.

Alberto Callaspo added a two-RBI double earlier in the inning, while Mike Jacobs slugged a three-run homer in the fifth to help the Royals win for the 11th time in their last 14 games.

The loss was only the second in a 12-game span for Boston, which still holds a comfortable seven-game lead on Texas for the lead in the American League Wild Card race and has a magic number of seven to clinch a playoff spot. The Red Sox are five games behind the rival New York Yankees for first place in the AL East.

"We've been playing so well," said Boston outfielder Jason Bay. "I think that it's one of those games. If it's in the middle of the season, it's 'Hey, it got away.' But we've been playing so well. It's magnified."

Bay had a three-run homer and Jacoby Ellsbury came through with a two-RBI single during a big third inning that staked the Red Sox to a 6-0 lead. Victor Martinez also knocked in two runs for Boston and finished 2-for-4 on the night.

The Red Sox haven't lost back-to-back games since September 4-5 but draw a tough assignment tonight in Greinke, the major league's leader with a 2.14 earned run average and a top candidate for the AL's Cy Young Award. The All- Star right-hander comes in having won three straight decisions and has yielded a mere two runs -- one earned -- over his last four starts spanning 29 innings.

Greinke was in top form once again Saturday in Detroit, where he fired five shutout innings against the Tigers to notch his 14th victory of the season. The 25-year-old struck out eight batters to give him 224 for the year, the second-highest total among AL hurlers.

The former first-round pick has never beaten the Red Sox in his career, although he's yet to face them this season. In two starts and one relief appearance against Boston, Greinke is 0-2 with a 3.45 ERA.

Paul Byrd will get the call for the Red Sox this evening and will be making his fifth start since being signed by Boston in August. The well-traveled righty has gone 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA so far this year and hasn't picked up a win in any of his last three outings.

Byrd received a no-decision in this past Wednesday's 9-8 Boston win over the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Fenway Park. He worked 5 1/3 innings in that game and allowed three runs on nine hits.

The 38-year-old pitched for Kansas City from 2001-02 and won a career-best 17 games in his second season with the Royals, but hasn't had much success when facing his former team in the past. Byrd is just 1-5 with a 5.74 ERA in 10 lifetime starts versus Kansas City.

The veteran pitcher will also be looking to improve upon a poor performance in his only road appearance of this season. That came on September 4 in Chicago, where Byrd was tagged for seven runs and 10 hits in just 2 1/3 innings of a loss to the White Sox.

The Red Sox took three of four games from the Royals when these teams squared off at Fenway Park from July 9-12. Boston has also won in four of its last six visits to Kauffman Stadium and is 9-3 in its 12 most recent overall clashes with Kansas City.

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