G21: Blue Jays 11, Red Sox 8

Blue Jays - 005 310 011 - 11 17  0
Red Sox   - 040 110 020 -  8 13  1

By the time this one finally ended - four hours and one minute after it began - you'd be forgiven if you had forgotten the Red Sox actually held a 4-0 lead. They batted around in the second, collected five hits and a walk, and it seemed like this would be a pleasant evening.

Then Clay Buchholz (2.2-6-5-1-4, 62) immediately gave the runs back - and a little extra. Buchholz looked good over the first two innings, striking out three, but he fell apart in the third. He walked Kevin Pillar and the next three Toronto hitters - Ryan Goins, Devon Travis, and Josh Donaldson - singled, making it 4-2. Jose Bautista's sac fly made it 4-3 and Edwin Encarnacion's single tied the game. After a strikeout, Michael Saunders's single gave the Jays a lead they never lost - and ended Buchholz's outing.

Edward Mujica pitched a disasterous fourth. After Pillar singled and Goins hit into a double play, the trouble began. Mujica walked Travis, then balked him to second. He walked Donaldson. Bautista singled in a run. With Encarnacion at the plate, Mujica was called for a second balk - not coming to a stop in his motion, apparently - and another run scored. Then Encarnacion's hit made it 8-4.

Boston had a decent shot at coming back in the fifth, loading the bases with no one out. Trailing 9-5, Pablo Sandoval singled and Drew Hutchison walked Daniel Nava and Brock Holt. Marco Estrada came in from the pen to face Xander Bogaerts, who represented the potential tying run. X took two horrific swings at outside pitches and struck out. Ryan Hanigan lined out to left. Mookie Betts walked, forcing in a run, but Dustin Pedroia grounded out to short.

Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run homer that sailed past the Pesky Pole, but it was too little, too late.

Sandoval went 4-for-5, with two doubles and two runs scored. ... Betts singled, doubled, walked, and scored twice. ... Ortiz singled, doubled, walked, scored a run, and knocked in two. ... Robbie Ross Jr. was the only one of six Boston pitchers to not allow a run.

Drew Hutchison / Clay Buchholz

Betts, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Sandoval, 3B
Nava, 1B
Holt, RF
Bogaerts, SS
Hanigan, C

Jackie Bradley has been called up, with Steven Wright being returned to Pawtucket.

Elias Says:

Mookie Betts's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning [on Monday] gave the Red Sox a 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays. The 22-year-old center fielder is the second-youngest player this season to record a walkoff RBI - Xander Bogaerts, who scored the winning run on Monday, was four days younger than Betts at the time of his walkoff single on April 17 against the Orioles.

Coming into this season, the last Red Sox player to record a walkoff RBI prior to his 23rd birthday was Jim Rice in July 1975 (Rice had two walkoff hits that month at age 22), but the last season in which multiple Red Sox players aged 22 or younger recorded a walkoff RBI was in the 1967 campaign - the youngsters for Boston with walkoff RBIs were Tony Conigliaro and Tony Horton.

Brock Holt likes playing a variety of positions. In the past two seasons with Boston, he's played everywhere except pitcher and catcher.

Pablo Sandoval had to leave the game last night after making a diving play, but he's feeling fine.