BSJ Game Report: Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 5 -- Sox claw from being down four

All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' win over the Blue Jays, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Sox prove masters at the comeback: For the second straight night, the Red Sox erased a multi-run deficit to pull off a comeback win. On Thursday night, they had to make up a three-run deficit, and eventually did, to beat the Astros. On Friday, it was an even taller order, as they trailed the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth. Again, the Sox seemed undaunted by the magnitude of the climb they faced. They scored three times in the bottom of the sixth, got another in the bottom of the eighth and finally, notched the game-winning run on a Wall-scraping single by Alex Verdugo. It was the 23rd comeback win of the season for the Red Sox -- tops among in Major League Baseball -- and second walk-off win of the year. "For some of these guys,'' noted Alex Cora, "this is their first Fenway experience. The way the fans are behind us, from the first pitch all the way to the end, they were loud. That's what we've been talking about - take advantage of Fenway. Today was one of those days, yeah, we were behind, but it never felt like it was out of hand. We were a few at-bats away from doing a few things.''

Richards digs an early hole, but battles: Starter Garrett Richards, for the fourth straight start and fifth time in his last outings, allowed the opposition to score in the first inning. He also gave up two more in the second. Worse, he needed 64 pitches to get through the first two innings, ensuring that he wasn't going to be around to go deep into the game. That was unfortunate because the Sox bullpen has been burdened with a lot of innings on the current homestand and Cora would have preferred not placing another heavy workload on his bullpen. Richards did make some adjustments after the first two, keeping the Jays off the scoreboard from the third through the fifth. But by the sixth, his pitch count soared over 100 and when he yielded a one-out single, his night was over. Richards has shown that he's capable of making adjustments on the fly and did so again. But the Sox would benefit from his being able to regularly pitch six or more innings, especially when the bullpen has been taxed of late.

TURNING POINT

Having nearly erased Toronto's big lead with a three-run sixth inning to pull within a run of the Jays, the Red Sox couldn't let the visitors add to their slim lead. A leadoff single and a one-out double against Brandon Workman gave the Jays runners at second and third. Cora went to lefty Josh Taylor, who came on to get Cavan Biggio swinging and pinch-hitter Riley Adams both swinging at third strikes, stranding two runners in scoring position.

ONE UP

Christian Arroyo: For the second straight night, the second baseman contributed a huge, game-tying homer. On Thursday night, it was a three-run shot in the fifth inning; on Friday, it was a solo shot in the eighth.

ONE DOWN

Hirokazu Sawamura: The righty reliever has been on a good run, but Friday night, a familiar issue re-appeared -- a tendency to give up homers. He gave up a two-run belt to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the sixth, his fifth homer allowed in 24.2 innings.

QUOTE OF NOTE

"My thing is, if I try to do less at the plate -- just simplify my thoughts and try to use the whole field -- that's when I have the big results.'' - Alex Verdugo

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

* The four-run deficit that the Red Sox overcame was their biggest of the season.

* Bobby Dalbec has 15 homers in his first 75 career games with the Sox, the 11th player in franchise history to do so.

* Josh Taylor stretched his scoreless string to 17 straight games, the longest streak in the A.L. this season.

* Only twice in his career has Garrett Richards allowed more than the 11 hits he gave up.

UP NEXT

In the second game of the series, set for 4:10 p.m. Saturday, the Red Sox will send RHP Nick Pivetta (6-1, 3.78) vs. LHP Steven Matz (6-3, 4.50)