BOSTON – You can ask Dustin Pedroia about the Red Sox’ 4-3 loss in the series finale to the Royals at Fenway Park Thursday afternoon. Ask him about Josh Beckett’s outing. Ask him about Carl Crawford’s ninth-inning pinch-hit drive that nearly won the game. You can even ask Pedroia about his own eighth-inning home run.Just don’t ask him about the streak.”I don’t really care,” he said. “I’m just trying to come out and help us win games. That’s basically it. I don’t really care. I’d rather us win the game than me hit a home run. It doesn’t really matter. I don’t really care.”Pedroia entered the game riding a career-best 24-game hit streak. Although he had extended his career-best on-base streak to 37 games with a fifth-inning walk, he had gone hitless in his first two-at bats against Kansas City right-hander Luke Hochevar.As Pedroia walked to the plate to lead off the eighth, facing reliever Greg Holland, the Fenway crowd of 37,822 gave him a standing ovation, as if willing Pedroia to extend the streak. He worked the count to 3-2, fouling off several Holland offerings.”I was just trying to get on base,” Pedroia said. “Holland, he’s got great stuff. I’m already at a disadvantage. He throws the ball real hard and I was just trying to put together a good at-bat. The 3-2, I was just looking fastball and I hit it on the barrel. So it worked out.”Pedroia took a nose-high fastball from Holland and deposited it into the Monster seats, pulling the Sox to within a run.”A little bit [up],” Pedroia said of the pitch. “But that’s a part of his game. He throws so darn hard. He doesn’t give up many hits or runs or anything. So I was lucky enough to hit it on the barrel.”With his 15th home run of the season, he extended his hitting streak to 25 games since June 29. It is the longest streak in the American League and third-longest in the majors this season. It was his eighth home run in July extending a monthly high. In the first 75 games of the season, he had six home runs. He has nine during the streak.Pedroia has hit in all but one of the games in his 37-game on-base streak. In that stretch, which began June 15, he is batting .380, going 57-for-150, with 23 walks raising his average to .308 and his on-base percentage to .407.If the crowd was loud before his at-bat, it was even louder after the blast.”In the dugout you don’t hear that as much. Just get locked in,” said manager Terry Francona. “I just wanted him to get on base. But I do think our fans are pretty special. They do react to things like that. It’s part of what makes Fenway so great. We don’t need to have to have presidents’ races or mustard racing ketchup. Our fans really like their baseball and I actually really think that’s cool. Nothing against mustard.”Pedroia and his teammates, though, were hoping his home run would act as a catalyst for a Sox rally.”I feel good every time the guy comes to the plate right now,” said Beckett. “I think he’s hitting .400 in this hitting streak and a lot of it’s damage. It’s not like he’s just getting his infield hit and calling it a day. Usually he’s hitting a double or homer or something like that.”Instead, the Sox fell a run short, 4-3. Beckett took the loss, falling to 9-4 with a 2.17 ERA. Holland got through the rest of the eighth unscathed and Joakim Soria earned his 19th save, giving Hochevar the win (7-8, 5.15).”They did a great job,” Pedroia said. “They have a great bullpen. They got some great arms in there. They were one better than us today.”