Blue Jays belt three homers as Red Sox offense goes silent in 6-1 loss

After an off day on Monday and a series victory over the Rangers, the Red Sox returned to Fenway Park to open a three-game set against the division-rival Blue Jays.

Boston battled one of baseball’s premier pitchers in Dylan Cease, forcing the Toronto ace to work through five innings, but the effort wasn’t enough. The Blue Jays rode three home runs to a 6-1 victory Tuesday night.

The loss dropped the Red Sox to 29-41 on the season and 12-23 at Fenway Park. Boston also fell to 9-15 in series openers and 9-30 when its opponent scores first, leaving the club 12 games under .500 and 14 games behind the first-place Yankees in the American League East.

Cease, making just his second start since returning from the injured list with a hamstring strain, ran into immediate trouble but found a way to escape unscathed.

The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out in the first inning after Ceddanne Rafaela singled, Wilyer Abreu walked, and Jarren Duran reached on a broken-bat blooper that Cease was unable to corral behind the mound. With a prime scoring opportunity, Caleb Durbin stepped to the plate but lifted a shallow fly ball to center field, ending the threat.

Although Boston failed to capitalize, it forced Cease to labor through the early innings. The right-hander threw 25 pitches in the first, 24 in the second, and 19 pitches in both the third and fourth innings. Entering the fifth already at 87 pitches, it appeared his night might be nearing an end.

Instead, Cease dug deep and completed five scoreless innings, allowing four hits while walking four and striking out seven. He finished his outing having thrown 108 pitches in an impressive display of resilience.

The outing continued Cease’s dominance at Fenway Park. In four career starts at the historic ballpark, he now owns a sparkling 1.25 ERA with 32 strikeouts.

The Red Sox went just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight baserunners over the first five innings, wasting multiple opportunities to put pressure on Toronto early.

Payton Tolle was good, but not good enough, coming away on the losing end against the Blue Jays.

The rookie left-hander battled through five innings, allowing three runs on four hits while walking two and striking out six. He needed 22 pitches to navigate a scoreless first inning and worked around traffic early before Toronto finally broke through in the third.

A lengthy 14-pitch at-bat against Myles Straw proved costly. Although Tolle ultimately retired Straw on a flyout to right field, the out advanced Andrés Giménez, who had reached on a leadoff double after replay overturned an initial out call at second base to third. George Springer followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead.

Toronto added to its advantage in the fifth when Davis Schneider and Giménez launched back-to-back solo home runs, marking the first time this season the Blue Jays had hit consecutive homers in a game. Tolle completed the inning and exited having allowed three earned runs in another encouraging performance despite being saddled with his second loss to Toronto this year.

Schneider wasn’t finished making an impact. Facing Tommy Kahnle in the sixth, the Blue Jays put runners on the corners before Schneider drove a ball off the Green Monster for an RBI double, extending Toronto’s lead to 4-0.

The Red Sox offense continued to sputter, managing just one run all night. Duran provided the lone bright spot with a solo homer in the eighth inning, his 12th of the season. He finished 2-for-5 and has now hit 11 of his 12 home runs against right-handed pitching. Seven of those long balls have come in the seventh inning or later, and since the start of May he owns 11 home runs, 26 RBIs, and a .781 OPS over 39 games.

Boston briefly threatened after Duran’s blast when Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled and Marcelo Mayer walked, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of pinch hitter Mickey Gasper. Toronto countered with reliever Louie Varland, who struck out Gasper to extinguish the rally.

Springer put the game out of reach in the ninth with a two-run homer, the 300th of his career. He became the 168th player in Major League history to reach the milestone and just the 16th active player to do so.

Despite the loss, Rafaela continued his strong stretch, going 2-for-5 with a double for his 17th multi-hit game of the season and third in his last four contests. Over his last 42 games, the Gold Glove center fielder is slashing .309/.352/.515 with an .867 OPS.

The Red Sox will try to even the series Wednesday night when rookie left-hander Jake Bennett (1-2, 5.28 ERA) opposes future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer (1-4, 10.23 ERA), who is also making his second start since returning from the injured list.