Trailing most of the night, the Red Sox finally pulled even in the bottom of the eighth, then posted a walk-off win when Alex Verdugo doubled off The Wall, scoring pinch-runner Danny Santana.
The Jays had been spotted a 5-1 lead as Garrett Richards struggles over the first couple of innings. They added to the lead with a two-run homer by Vladimir Guerrero in the sixth.
But the Sox chipped away with three in the sixth and another in the eighth.
WHO: Red Sox (38-25) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (31-29)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: BOS 3-2
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Garrett Richards (4-4, 3.88) vs. RHP Ross Stripling (2-3, 4.71)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM 93.7
LINEUPS
BLUE JAYS
Semien 2B
Bichette SS
Guerrero Jr. DH
Hernandez RF
Grichuk CF
Tellez 1B
Gurriel Jr,. LF
Biggio 3B
McGuire C
RED SOX
Hernandez CF
Verdugo LF
Martinez DH
Devers 3B
Renfroe RF
Vazquez C
Arroyo 2B
Gonzalez SS
Dalbec 1B
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
T9: Dalbec drops a foul pop-up, but Whitlock immediately points to him and conveys that he'll pick him up. And he does, getting Riley Adams on a bases-loaded forceout.
B8: Arroyo connects with a shot over everything in LF -- second homer in as many nights and third in the last week -- to pull the Sox even for the first time tonight.
T8: Garrett Whitlock fans Guerrero on three pitches -- the last, a 98 mph four-seamer, called.
B7: Sox unable to produce the big hit. Hunter Renfroe goes down swinging, stranding a runner at second base. They're 1-for-7 with RISP.
T7: Huge effort by Josh Taylor, who inherits two runners in scoring position and fans both hitters he faces to keep it a one-run game.
B6: Hernandez retired on a comebacker to the pitcher, leaving the bases loaded. But the Sox score three to pull within a run.
B6: Hard to imagine a worse relief appearance than the one turned in by Chatwood. Hits the first batter, walks the next one on four pitches, throws a wild pitch to score a run, and hits the next batter, too.
B6: Three bases hits produce a run, put Red Sox baserunners at the corners and chase Ross Stripling. Tyler Chatwood on for the Jays.
T6: Vlad Guerrero Jr. crushes a four-seamer up in the zone from Hirokazu Sawamura and the Jays lead 5-1. Absolute
T4: A super quick inning for Richards - five pitches. Coupled with the 15-pitch third, Richards is making up for the first two innings, which required 64 pitches.
B3: Bobby Dalbec, who made an adjustment with his leg kick in his stance, seems to have far better timing down. Two hits Thursday night, and in his first at-bat tonight, drives a four-seam fastball into the CF bleachers for home run No. 7
T2: Bo Bichette singles up the middle, scoring Reese McGuire.
B1: Alex Verdugo was caught taking too big a turn at first base and was about to be out in a rundown, but second baseman Marcus Semien slipped the throw wide and, somehow Verdugo wound up at third base.
T1: Credit to Richards, who gets out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam by retiring Rowdy Tellez on a lineout to center before fanning Lourdes Gurriel Jr. But it comes at a cost: 36 pitches at a time when the bullpen is on fumes.
T1: This -- struggling in the first inning -- isn't new for Garrett Richards. This marks the third straight start and fifth in the last seven that he's allowed at least one run in the first. One run in, bases loaded and 31 pitches thrown.
WHAT'S UP: The Red Sox are 6-2 in their last eight games and 13-7 in their last 20...They are 13 games over .500, one shy of their season high of 14 over at 37-23.... This is the 20th time the Sox have won as many as 38 of their first 63 games...In each of the last five instances, they went on to reach the Postseason (2007-09, ‘13, ‘18).....The Red Sox are 15-3 in their last 18 games against AL East teams, after starting the season 0-3...They are 5-0-1 in their last 6 series vs. AL East teams. The Sox have a winning record against each of the other 4 AL East teams (15-6 overall)...They were a combined 4-16 vs. NYY and TB in 2020 (6-0 this season).....Last night’s game featured six lead changes, the most in any game since Cubs vs. Cardinals on Sept. 21, 2019..The Sox overcame deficits of 1-0, 3-2, 7-4, and 8-7 ...Red Sox starters have thrown fewer than five innings in three of the last four games...Prior to this, they had failed to throw five innings in only three of their previous 38 games. Sox starters have thrown five or more innings 51 times, third-most in the majors (OAK-53, LAD-52)...The Sox are 17-5 when their starter lasts six or more innings....Josh Taylor has made 16 consecutive scoreless appearances, the AL’s longest streak of 202. In that span, he's pitched 12 innings with 13 strikeouts, a WHIP of 0.92 WHIP and an opponents' batting average of .171....Last night marked the eight time this season the Red Sox scored 10 or more runs in a game, tied with the Reds for most in the majors...The Sox are an MLB-best 34-3 (.919) when scoring four or more runs...They are 29-3 when scoring five or more runs, 24-1 when scoring six or more runs, and 18-0 when scoring seven or more runs...The Sox are out-homering their opponents, 77- 50 (+27), tied with San Francisco for the largest difference in MLB...They are an MLB-best 19-2 when hitting two or more home runs...Garrett Richards will be making his 200th career appearance and his 141st career start...Opponents are 31-for-99 (.313, 5 HR) against him in the first 2 innings, but only 36-for-158 (.228, 0 HR) against him after the second inning. .Richards has a 2.90 ERA over his last 62.0 innings after allowing 8 ER in his first three innings this season. Has allowed three earned runs or fewer in nine of his last 11 starts, including two earned runs or fewer in seven of those starts....He's thrown five or more innings in each of his last eight starts, his longest streak since a career-high 27 consecutive outings from 2015-2016...Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is 3-for-5 lifetime off Richards while Marcus Semien is 4-for-16....Xander Bogaerts has an eight-game hitting streak, during which he's knocked in seven runs....Rafael Devers has scored eight runs in his last eight games...Kike Hernandez is 3-for-3 with a homer off Ross Stripling, his former Dodger teammate while Bogaerts is 2-for-6 with a home run.
NOTES:
* RHP Hirokazu Sawamura, who had been battling a sore hip since his last outing, has been cleared and is available. As recently as Thursday, the Sox were contemplating whether Sawamura would require a trip to the IL. "He was actually available (Thursday), but that smart thing was to give him another day,'' said Alex Cora. "Now, he's a full go.''
* Bobby Dalbec had two hits Thursday night (single, double) and the hope is that, with a modification of his leg kick, he may have finally locked into something at the plate. "Timing is everything at this level,'' said Cora. "You have to be on time. We live in an era where hitters get caught up in their own mechanics. If you're on time, you're going to see the ball, you're going to recognize pitches and you're going to make good swing decisions. And if felt like (Thursday) was the first time he's been on time this season. You saw the results. Hopefully, he doesn't get caught up in the results and stays with the process and he keeps working on it and we see him take off.''
* Chris Sale threw another bullpen -- this one from the main mound at Fenway with more than a dozen teammates ringed behind him, watching intently. "We need to try not to get too excited,'' said Cora. "It was that good. The energy, the quality of the pitches, the tempo...He looked really good. He said that that was the best he's felt throughout the process. Having his peers around him meant a lot. And pitching on that mound means a lot. Being on a big league mound means a lot to him and he doesn't take that for granted. It was a really good one.''
* Xander Bogaerts was scratched from the lineup 90 minutes before gametime, with Marwin Gonzalez taking over at short. Bogaerts is dealing with a sore left knee.