FINAL: Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 3 - Long Ball powers Boston to victory

The Red Sox defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 on Monday night at Rpgers Centre. The long ball was the story tonight as Tyler O'Neill hit two homers and O'Neill and Rafael Devers went back-to-back in the first inning. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

• Nick Pivetta went seven  innings giving up 3 R, 9 hits, 4K and 1 BB. 
• David Hamilton left the game with left side discomfort. 
• Boston has now won three straight and 6 of 8. 
• Boston's first four hits were all solo shots. After O'Neill and Devers went back to back, Ceddanne Rafaela went deep to begin the third inning and then O'Neill blasted his second homer of the night two outs later.

• It was O'Neill's second multi homer game of the season and his seventh of his career. 
• O'Neill came into the night 0-9 in his only two previous games in Toronto. 
• Justin Turner hit a solo shot versus his former team and it was also his first homer since April 29th. 

The Red Sox will continue their three-game series in Toronto tomorrow night at 7:07 p.m. 

______________________________

WHO: Red Sox (37-35) at Toronto Blue Jays (35-36)
WHEN: 7:07 p.m.
WHERE: Rogers Centre, Toronto. 
SERIES TO DATE: 0-0
STARTING PITCHERS:  RHP Nick Pivetta 3-4 (3.88 ERA ) vs LHP Yusei Kikuchi 4-5 (3.26 ERA)
TV/RADIO: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7
LIVE BOX
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Duran LF
Refsnyder RF
O'Neill DH
Devers 3B
Wong C
Gonzalez 2B
Dalbec 1B
Hamilton SS
Rafaela CF

SP Nick Pivetta 

OPPONENT
Schneider 2B
Jansen C
Guerrero Jr 1B
Varsho LF
Turner DH
Springer RF
Kiner-Falefa SS
Clement 3B
Kiermaier CF

SP Yusei Kikuchi 
WHAT'S UP

• The Red Sox have won 5 of their last 7 games...They're 9-6 in their last 15 and 14-11 in their last 25.
•  At 37-35, the Sox own MLB's 11th-best record.
•  The Sox set a franchise record last night with 9 stolen bases...It was their first time since 1940 they recorded more than 6 in a game.
• They became just the 9th team since 1920 to record at least 9 steals, joining CIN on 6/16/23 at MIL as the only teams to do since the beginning of 2011.
• David Hamilton stole 4 bases, becoming just the 3rd Red Sox all-time to do so, joining Jacoby Ellsbury (2x: 2013 & 2010) and Jerry Remy (1980). 
• The Red Sox earned victories in back-to-back series vs. PHI (47-24, 1st in NL) and NYY (50-24, 1st in AL).
•  Both PHI and NYY entered their series vs. BOS with the best record in MLB...The Red Sox had never won back-to-back series against teams who each entered with MLB's best record at least 50 G into the season (source: Elias).
•  It was the first time any team in MLB did so since STL beat WSH & CIN from 9/28-10/3/2012 (source: Elias).
•  During June, the Sox lead MLB in AVG (.293) and OBP (.372)...They lead the AL in SB (22), and rank 2nd in OPS (.831) and 3rd in SLG (.459) and runs scored (81).
•  The Sox lead MLB lead in triples (21)...They rank 4th in XBH (225) and 5th in doubles (130) and OPS (.735).
• Boston ranks 2nd in the AL in OBP (.323), 3rd in AVG (.252), 4th in OPS (.735), and 5th in SLG (.412). 
• Canadien Tyler O'Neill is 0-9 in his homeland. He last played in Canada in 2022. 
• Canadien Nick Pivetta is 0-1 with a 3.72 ERA in 7 games in Toronto. 
• Boston leads the AL in stolen bases (69) after 72 games.