All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Blue Jays, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Tough start to crucial homestand for Sox: The Red Sox squandered a key chance to make up ground on the Blue Jays in the AL Wild Card race, falling 7-3 to Toronto at Fenway on Friday and dropping three games out of the final playoff spot. James Paxton struggled, giving up three home runs in the first two innings, including two on the first pitch and one to Whit Merrifield on the first pitch of the game. Boston allowed a season-high five home runs. It was Boston's eighth-straight loss at Fenway when coming off a road trip.
Paxton, pitching struggle: Paxton just didn't have it for the second straight game. It's as simple as that. Missed his spots and left too many pitches right over the heart of the plate, which allowed Merrifield, Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Davis Schneider to tee off on him in the first two innings. Mauricio Llovera and Richard Bleier couldn't limit the damage in relief, either, giving up home runs.
TURNING POINTS
Top of the first: After Merrifield homered on the first pitch and George Springer hit a loud out to left-center, there was a sinking feeling that the Sox would be in for a long night. Those suspicions were confirmed when Guerrero left the park on the fourth pitch of the game. Schneider leaving the yard on the 16th pitch of the game in the second certainly didn't help, either.
Top of the sixth: The Red Sox were still in it, technically speaking, down just two runs going into the top of the sixth, but Daulton Varsho took Llovera deep on the second pitch he threw to extend Toronto's lead to 5-2. Guerrero drove in Springer (walk) with an RBI double to put the game seemingly out of reach.
ONE UP
Jarren Duran: Led the way offensively, again, as the only guy to truly bring it at the plate. Went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run, thanks to his two-run homer to the opposite field over the Monster. Still showed some hustle on Matt Chapman's ninth-inning homer, tracking it in a full sprint back toward the bullpen, too.
SIX DOWN
James Paxton: Easily Paxton's worst outing of the season, and it's back-to-back rough outings, which is even more concerning. Has given up at least eight hits in back-to-back games (of at least 5.0 innings) for the first time since 2016. Have to wonder if he was tipping his pitches early on, too, with the way Toronto absolutely teed off on him. It was just the third time in his career he's given up three or more homers. Cutter was not effective, and he tried to compensate with the changeup. Just didn't execute.
Mauricio Llovera: Boston was still within striking distance, down only two when Paxton exited the game, but Llovera couldn't stop the bleeding. Gave up two runs on three hits, including a homer, with a walk in just 1.1 innings.
Triston Casas: Should have made the play on a grounder to his left in the fourth on a Varsho single. Paxton dogging it to the bag didn't help, either. Varsho went on to score on a George Springer RBI double. Nothing going at the plate, going 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
Alex Verdugo: After a decent end to the road trip, reverted right back to his slumping ways, going 0-for-3 (forceout, groundout, strikeout).
Connor Wong: 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, all against the struggling Alek Manoah. Wonder what his role behind the plate could have played with the pitching struggles.
Adam Duvall: 0-for-4. Could have used his power to keep up with Toronto.
NOTABLE
Cedanne Rafaela now has four games in a row with a home run, a record for the WooSox, after a 1-for-4 night at the dish.
Duran (.522 SLG, 23 SB) joins Kyle Tucker as one of two American League players with a slugging percentage of at least .500 and 20 or more stolen bases.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"I think location-wise, he was off," Alex Cora said of Paxton. "You have a secondary pitch, but the breaking ball was off today, so he got to be creative and try to give us as much as possible, which he did. It was a 4-2 game when he came out, so tip your hat to him. Without his best stuff, he was able to kind of give us a chance to win the game."
UP NEXT
Second of the three-game set is slated for Saturday afternoon at 4:10 p.m. Boston has not yet named a starter. RHP Jose Berrios (8-7, 3.38 ERA) gets the ball for Toronto.