G157: Blue Jays 9, Red Sox 4

Blue Jays - 101 030 040 - 9 13  0
Red Sox   - 100 000 030 - 4  8  1

Losing two games to the division's basement dwellers is not how the Red Sox wanted to begin their final homestand. Chris Sale (5-8-5-2-8, 92) gave up four home runs, while his teammates could do nothing against J.A. Happ (7-4-1-0-9, 107).

Toronto's second decisive victory at Fenway Park in as many nights, coupled with the Yankees beating the Rays 6-1, left the Red Sox with a three-game lead in the East with five games to play. It remains highly probable that Boston will win the division, but these losses, coupled with injuries to Mookie Betts and Eduardo Nunez, are creating more drama than is necessary.

The Blue Jays hit five dongs in the game: two each by Josh Donaldson and Teoscar Hernandez and one from Kendrys Morales. Donaldson hit solo shots in the first and third, while Hernandez lost Sale's first pitch of the fifth. Two outs later, Jose Bautista doubled and Morales gave the Jays a 5-1 lead. Hernandez put a cap on the victory with a three-run blast off Heath Hembree in the eighth.

(A blown strike three call by home plate umpire David Rackley drastically changed the situation early in the eighth. Instead of a runner at third and two outs, Boston had to deal with runners at first and third and only one out. The Blue Jays led 5-1 at the time and the Red Sox's bats were quiet most of the night, so perhaps it would not have changed the outcome, but I'd prefer to have the players decide that, rather than a mistake-prone umpire.)

Back in the first inning, the Red Sox tied the game very quickly, as Xander Bogaerts reached on an infield single and scored on Chris Young's double off the left field wall. It was a promising beginning, but then Happ retired the next 16 batters  - with only four of them hitting the ball out of the infield. With one out in the sixth, Bogaerts and Young both singled, but Happ set down the next five before turning the game over to the Toronto pen.

Sandy Leon homered down the left field line off Matt Dermody to start the bottom of the eighth. Facing Tom Koehler with two outs, Young tripled to dead center. Pinch-hitter Rajai Davis doubled into the left field corner and Hanley Ramirez grounded a run-scoring single to right. But that was all the Red Sox would get. Ryan Tepera struck out Sam Travis to end the eighth and Luis Santos retired the side in order in the ninth.

The four home runs allowed by Sale tied a career-high. He allowed four long balls to the Rangers on August 23, 2013 when he was with the White Sox.

J.A. Happ / Chris Sale

Bogaerts, SS
Young, RF
Benintendi, LF
Ramirez, DH
Travis, 1B
Devers, 3B
Marrero, 2B
Leon, C
Bradley, CF

Before his last start, it was announced that Chris Sale needed 13 strikeouts to become the second Red Sox pitcher in history to reach 300 for the season. I was convinced there was no way he would get there.

Facing the Orioles, Sale had struck out nine in the first six innings, but he was at 82 pitches and the Red Sox were up 6-0. It was pretty clear that I had been right. ... I was dead wrong. Sale struck out three batters in the seventh and came out for the eighth with an 8-0 lead. He recorded his 13th strikeout with his 111th, and final, pitch of the night.

Sale is now 13 strikeouts away from the team's all-time single-season record of 313, set by Pedro Martinez in 1999. In three starts this year against the Blue Jays (all in Toronto), Sale has allowed zero runs in 22 innings. He has also struck out 35 batters, an average of 14.3/K9. I'm keeping my mouth shut about his chances tonight.

Sale leads all major league pitchers in strikeouts, of course. He also ranks #1 in swinging strikeouts (221), strikeouts on four-seam fastballs (139), strikeouts on in-zone pitches (154), strikeouts on 0-2 counts (74), and strikeouts against right-handed batters (259).

MFY Watch: The Yankees are 4 GB with 6 games to play. The Red Sox's Magic Number to clinch the AL East is 3.