The Red Sox had a chance to complete a 3 game sweep against the Blue Jays and even had a lead for most of the game, but the Jays once again proved to be the Achilles heel for Junichi Tazawa as he gave up the lead. Joe Kelly started for the Red Sox and still hasn’t been able to get himself a win in a Sox uniform.
The Jays jumped out to an early lead when Jose Bautista hit a solo homerun off of Kelly. Sox 0-1. Other than that one run, Kelly was pretty effective against the Jays down the stretch. The game stayed 0-1 until the 6th inning when the Sox bats finally cracked the scoreboard. The Sox tied the game up when newly returned to the lineup David Ortiz hit an RBI single to score Ross. The Sox then grabbed a slim one run lead when Holt scored by way of a wild pitch during Napoli’s at bat. Sox 2-1.
Kelly was still on the mound in the 7th inning, but when he gave up a leadoff double Farrell came out to get him. Tommy Layne was in the game and after he gave up a single, Farrell pulled him in favor of Junichi Tazawa. Tazawa has pitched pretty well this season except against one team, the Blue Jays. This trend would continue last night as he gave up a go ahead 3 run homerun to Valencia. Sox 2-4. The Jays then got an insurance run when Reyes hit a sac grounder to score Pillar from 3rd. Sox 2-5. Edwin Escobar who was called up from Pawtucket and was a part of the Jake Peavy trade made his Sox debut as he pitched a scoreless 9th inning, but the Sox bats didn’t have a rally in their bones and they dropped the last game of the series. The Sox still won the series and since they had lost their previous 8 straight, I’ll focus on taking 2 out of 3 instead of focusing on the Sox losing yet another winnable game.
Red Sox 2 Blue Jays 5 BOXSCORE
WP: Stroman (8-5) LP: Layne (1-1) SV: Cecil (5)
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