Final: Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 1 - Blue Jays hit grand slam off Justin Wilson, Red Sox record only 3 hits

The Red Sox lose a must-win game against the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1.

Boston had their opportunity to punch their ticket to the postseason with a win, but a nightmare sixth inning along with nonexistent offense resulted in a missed opportunity.

It was a quiet start to the game from both teams. Neither side scored a run through five innings of play. However, the Red Sox didn't get their first run of the game until the seventh inning. 

The Blue Jays used a parade of bullpen arms in this game, and their bullpen put up a perfect game through six innings against Boston. After Louis Varland pitched two innings to start the game, Eric Lauer did much of the workload in the game, pitching 3.1 innings of hitless baseball for Toronto.

Despite the awful run support, Brayan Bello managed to keep the Red Sox in the game, pitching five scoreless innings and getting the Red Sox out of multiple jams.

However, Bello's scoreless outing turned sour in the sixth inning. Trevor Story recorded his third error in two games putting the leadoff hitter Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on base, and Bello loaded the bases walking one batter and hitting another with a cutter.

With no outs in the inning, Alex Cora took out his starter. Justin Wilson was tasked to get Boston out of a difficult jam, but the lefty allowed a grand slam to Dalton Varsho to give the Blue Jays a commanding 4-0 lead.

Wilson allowed an additional double to Andrés Giménez, and his night was over. The Red Sox then turned to Zack Kelly, and he allowed a two-run homer to George Springer, which capped off a horrific inning.

Down six runs in the seventh inning, the Red Sox finally got their first hit with a Jarren Duran double, and Story drove in Boston's only run with an RBI single.

Alex Bregman killed Boston's momentum grounding into a 6-4-3 double play, and the Red Sox went silent at the plate the remainder of the game.

It's impossible to win baseball games when a team goes hitless through six innings. This was a prime opportunity to get to the postseason, yet the Red Sox failed to put up a fight on offense. Now Boston has to go back home to play a difficult series against the Detroit Tigers to get into the playoffs.

Boston's final series of the season begins tomorrow at 7:10 p.m. with Kyle Harrison on the mound.

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WHO: Red Sox (87-71) vs Blue Jays (90-68)
WHEN: 7:07 p.m.
WHERE: Rogers Centre, Toronto
SERIES TO DATE: (2-0), (5-9)
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Brayan Bello (11-8, 3.34 ERA) vs. RHP Louis Varland (4-3, 3.10 ERA)
TV/RADIO: NESN, MLB Network, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Jarren Duran (L) LF
Trevor Story (R) SS
Alex Bregman (R) 3B
Masataka Yoshida (L) DH
Romy Gonzalez (R) 2B
Ceddanne Rafaela (R) CF
Nathaniel Lowe (L) 1B
Rob Refsnyder (R) RF
Connor Wong (R) C

SP Brayan Bello

BLUE JAYS

George Springer (R) DH
Nathan Lukes (L) RF
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
Addison Barger (L) 3B
Anthony Santander (S) LF
Daulton Varsho (L) CF
Ernie Clement (R) 2B
Andrés Giménez (L) SS
Tyler Heineman (S) C

SP Louis Varland

WHAT'S UP

The Red Sox look to punch their ticket to the postseason with a win tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Houston Astros defeated the Athletics 11-5 today. They need the Red Sox to lose to stay in the postseason race.

Gold Glover Wilyer Abreu is not in the lineup for the first time since returning from the IL on Sunday. Rob Refsnyder will play right field instead.