Final: Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 4

Limited to just three runs total in their previous games, the Red Sox awoke from their offensive slump and thrashed the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3, averting a sweep at Rogers Centre and snapping a five-game losing streak.

In a balanced attack, five different Red Sox players drove in at least one run, with Brock Holt and J.D. Martinez each driving in two. The top three hitters in the lineup combined for eight hits.

The Sox tied a franchise record by using nine pitchers.

WHO: Red Sox (76-70) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (57-89)
WHEN: 7:07 p.m.
WHERE: Rogers Centre
SERIES TO DATE: Toronto 2-0
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: Boston 10-8
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Jhoulys Chacin (3-10, 5.60) vs. RHP Clay Buchholz (1-4, 5.31)

IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:

10:14   Meltdown inning for Matt Barnes, who can't find the plate, issuing three walks, the last of which comes with the bases loaded, forcing in a run.

9:28    Red Sox manufacture a run with a Betts single, stolen base and a single from Brock Holt, coupled with an error by Alford in right.

8:58    A two-out walk for Brian Johnson proves costly. He walks Bo Bichette and after falling behind 3-and-1 to Cavan Biggio, allows a double pulled down the right field line.

8:27   Offense from a most unlikely source - RBI single to right by No. 23 catcher Juan Centeno.

8:20  The Red Sox lead MLB teams in doubles, and they're adding to that total tonight. Jackie Bradley Jr's one out double to left marks the fourth double for the Sox tonight.

7:55  Opposite-field double for Martinez scores Bogaerts and lifts the Red Sox to a 3-0 lead.

7:52   There's double No. 50 for Xander Bogaerts, who becomes just the second MLB shortstop to hit at least 30 homers and at least 50 doubles in the same season -- Alex Rodriguez did it in 1996. The double also gives the Sox two players with 50 more doubles for the first time and only the second time for an American League team since 1947.

7:42   Another potentially costly misplay on a routine flyball. Last night, Rafael Devers muffed one; tonight, it's Andrew Benintendi, who loses a ball in the twilight and sees it drop in for a two-out double.

7:32  Big two-run double for Marco Hernandez, scoring Mitch Moreland and J.D. Martinez. Hernandez continues to have big at-bats, especially with runners in scoring position.

7:25 All these years later, one thing hasn't changed: Clay Buchholz is still painfully deliberate when it comes to pace, especially with runners on base.

 

LINEUPS



RED SOX

Betts RF
Holt 3B
Bogaerts SS
Martinez DH
Benintendi LF
Moreland 1B
Bradley CF
M. Hernandez 2B
Centeno C

BLUE JAYS

Bichette SS
Biggio 2B
Guerrero Jr. 3B
Tellez 1B
Smoak DH
Grichuk RF
McGuire C
McKinney RF
Fisher LF

WHAT'S UP: The Red Sox have dropped five straight and eight of the last 11...The Sox saw their streak of winning eight straight series in Toronto end with Wednesday's loss...The last time the Sox were swept by the Jays in a series of at least three games was June of 2015; the last time they were swept in a three-game series in Toronto was April 2008....The Sox managed just two hits  in Wednesday's loss, and both were singles. That ended a streak of 159 straight games in which the Red Sox had collected at least one extra-base hit...The last time they failed to do so was Sept. 14, 2018, the fourth-longest streak in MLB history...The Red Sox have been limited to one or no runs in four of their last seven games...In that stretch, they're hitting just .187 as a team and are averaging just 2.3 runs per game...Boston has dropped to ninth in homers in MLB with 226; they need 13 to set a single-season record for the franchise, having hit 238 in 2003....Mookie Betts has reached base safely in the last 24 games...Xander Bogaerts needs just one more double to become the second shortstop to have a season with 30 or more homers and 50 or more doubles...Alex Rodriguez (1996) is the only other to accomplish the feat...Bogaerts needs six extra-base hits to set a new mark for most by a Red Sox shortstop in a season; Nomar Garciaparra holds the franchise record with 85, set in 1997 and matched in 2002....The Sox have a chance to have four players with 30 or more homers in a season for the first time. J.D. Martinez (35) and Xander Bogaerts (31)  are already there; Rafael Devers is at 29 and Betts has 28....Tonight will  mark Jhoulys Chacin's first career appearance against the Jays; he's faced every other major league team at least twice...Tonight also marks the first time that former Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz will face his former team.