G133: Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 1

Red Sox   - 000 010 240 - 7 10  0
Blue Jays - 001 000 000 - 1  6  0

One definition of a really good baseball day is when your team increases its division lead by 1.5 games! The Red Sox finished off a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays on Wednesday behind Rick Porcello (6.2-6-1-2-7, 108) and Mitch Moreland, who came off the bench and drove in four runs in two innings.

Meanwhile, in New York, the Yankees were swept by Cleveland 2-1 and 9-4. The Red Sox lead the AL East by a season-high 5.5 games as they head to the Bronx for four games against the second-place Yankees.

Porcello did not have much trouble with the Toronto lineup, which was missing Josh Donaldson and Justin Smoak. Porcello allowed a one-out double in the first, but struck out the next two batters. He allowed a home run to Raffy Lopez in the third.

After striking out Jose Bautista to start the fourth (the fading Jays star struck out three times for the second game in a row*), Porcello allowed three singles. The first one was hit by the plodding Kendrys Morales, so the runners could only advance one base at a time. The Blue Jays led 1-0 and had the bases loaded with one out. Darwin Barney smoked a line drive right back at Porcello. He snared it and whirled around to check the runners, but none of them had any time to get too far away from their respective bases. Porcello then struck out Lopez. Those two outs were the first of 10 straight batters retired by Porcello.

*: Bautista is 5-for-52 (.096) with 23 strikeouts against the Red Sox this season.

Hanley Ramirez tied the game at 1-1 with a blast into the second deck in left field. The Red Sox took the lead against the Toronto bullpen. Tom Koehler began the seventh and Ramirez greeted him with a double down the left field line. Moreland batted for Chris Young and lined a 2-1 pitch into the second deck in right, putting Boston on top 3-1.

In the seventh, Porcello walked Lopez with two outs and gave up a single to Rob Refsynder. Robby Scott came in and faced Ezequiel Carrera as the potential go-ahead run. Carrera hit a line drive to right-center, but Benintendi made the catch.

Tim Mayza, with only 7.1 innings of big league experience, had a rough time in the eighth. He walked Andrew Benintendi, who stole second without a throw. Mookie Betts doubled to right to score Benintendi. Then Betts scored on Xander Bogaerts's double to left-center. After Rafael Devers walked, Mayza was replaced by Aaron Loup. Devers broke for second on Loup's second pitch to Ramirez. However, Bogaerts did not immediately go to third. When he did, second baseman Refsynder threw to Barney at third, but his throw was off-target and Barney had to come off the bag towards the plate to catch it - and Bogaerts was able to skitter to the base safely!

Rob Bradford, WEEI:

The Red Sox went 11-for-11 in stolen base attempts for the series, the most SBs without getting caught in one three-game set allowed by the Blue Jays in their history. The Sox have now swiped 24 stolen bases this season against Toronto, the most for Boston against one opponent in a single season since they notched 30 vs. the St. Louis Browns in 1943.

After Ramirez was called out on strikes, Moreland blooped a single into short center to score both runners. Joe Kelly pitched the final two innings, retiring all six batters he faced, striking out two.

Also: Bogaerts was on first with two outs in the fourth when he was struck by Devers's hard grounder between first and second. Bogaerts was also trying to get out of the way of a huge section of Devers's bat, which came flying towards him. ... Barney had a rough night: In the second, he grounded back to Porcello, who started a 1-4-3 double play; in the fourth, he lined out to Porcello with the bases loaded; and in the seventh, he grounded out Porcello-to-first. He also ended the game with a line drive to Devers. ... The box score says the roof was closed, but it was opened during the fourth inning.

Rick Porcello / J.A. Happ

I will be in attendance at Skydome tonight - my one game this season - as the Red Sox go for a three-game sweep of the last-place Blue Jays.

A SoSH thread asks: "Who is the 2017 Red Sox MVP?" At this moment, one player has received 125 of 130 votes (96.2%)! The 2VP poll is much closer.

On Sunday, Joey Votto of the Reds came to the plate five times. He saw 43 pitches and walked five times. (His teammate Zack Cozart also batted five times - and saw 13 pitches.)

Jeff Sullivan, Fangraphs:

Joey Votto is the league leader in walks. His first time up, the count went to 0-and-1. Votto is the league leader in walks after the count goes to 0-and-1. His second time up, the count went to 0-and-2. Votto is the league leader in walks after the count goes to 0-and-2. His third time up, the count went to 1-and-2. Votto is the league leader in walks after the count goes to 1-and-2. His fourth time up, the count went to 2-and-2. Votto is the league leader in walks after the count goes to 2-and-2. And his fifth time up, the count went to 3-and-2. Votto is the league leader in walks after the count goes to 3-and-2.

That could be my favourite baseball paragraph of the entire year.

Also: Giancarlo Stanton has 51 home runs, which is 14 more home runs than Aaron Judge, #2 in MLB. Only two other players have led the majors by as many as 14 home runs at any point in any season since 1876. Babe Ruth did it in seven different seasons (1919–21, 1924, and 1926–28). Jimmie Foxx finished the 1932 and 1933 seasons with leads of 17 and 14, respectively. (Stanton has hit 30 home runs in his last 48 games, which is a Bondsian pace (Barry clubbed 30 dongs in a 47-game span in 2001).) ... Ruth did it seven fucking times. LOL!

AL East: The Yankees are 4 GB. They will play a "real" doubleheader against Cleveland today at 1 PM. The second game will begin 30 minutes after the end of the first game.