Blue Jays - 001 010 011 - 4 5 0 Red Sox - 011 200 01x - 5 14 1Rafael Devers drove in four runs with a home run, double, and single. His final RBI, in the bottom of the eighth, was extremely welcome when the Blue Jays assembled a rally in the ninth against Brandon Workman, who threw a season-high 45 pitches in 1.2 innings.
Eduardo Rodriguez (6.1-3-2-3-4, 99) solved every Toronto hitter except Teoscar Hernández, who hit two solo home runs. Matt Barnes wriggled out of trouble in the top of the seventh, after walking his first batter and loading the bases. He fanned both Danny Jansen and Eric Sogard. The third strike to Sogard, a curve in the dirt, got away from Christian Vázquez, but he was able to retrieve the ball and step on the plate to force the runner coming in from third.
Brock Holt (3-for-5) singled in Andrew Benintendi in the second, but Hernández went yard with Rodriguez's first pitch in the third. Devers hit his 18th homer in the third and doubled home two more runs in the fourth (after a passed ball put them on second and third).
Hernández's second dong closed the gap to 4-2. The Blue Jays drew one run closer when Lourdes Gurriel hit a home run off Josh Taylor with one out in the eighth. Taylor then hit Randal Grichuk with an 0-2 pitch and walked Cavan Biggio. Workman, who perhaps should have begun the inning instead of Taylor, was immediately robbed of a clear strike call against Justin Smoak by plate umpire Lance Barrett. See pitch #2:
The Red Sox left the bases loaded in the seventh when Nick Kingham struck out Jackie Bradley, but they were able to put something together against Ken Giles in the eighth. Holt singled with one out and Mookie Betts walked. Devers lined a single to center, scoring Holt. But that was the extent of the action, as Xander Bogaerts popped to first and J.D. Martinez popped to right.
Workman went right out on the high-wire in the ninth by walking his first two batters (the #8 and #9 hitters in the Blue Jays lineup). Workman struck out Sogard and got Vlad Guerrero Jr. to lined out to right. Betts drifted back and leapt a tiny bit for the ball, as Hernández tagged at second and went to third.
After a meeting on the mound with the pitching coach, the infielders, and the battery, Gurriel chopped Workman's first pitch up the middle and into center, scoring Hernández and sending Jansen to second. Workman got ahead of Grichuk 0-2, with a called strike and a foul ball. Grichuk took a ball, fouled off two more pitches, and took another ball. He swung and missed a pitch in the dirt and Vázquez threw him out at first for the win. (Workman threw 46 pitches in a relief stint in May 2017.)
The start of the game was delayed 33 minutes by rain.
AL East: Rays/MFY, postponed by rain. ... MFY –, TBR 6.0, BOS 9.5.
Betts, RFApril 18: The Red Sox are 6-13, 8.5 GB. A dreadful start, sure, but the fans predicting doom are obviously ignorant (of both math and several other things). Boston is only 8.5 games out with 143 to play.
Devers, 3B
Bogaerts, SS
Martinez, DH
Benintendi, LF
Chavis, 1B
Bradley, CF
Vázquez, C
Holt, 2B
July 17: The Red Sox are 51-44, 10 games out with 67 to play. Although they have played at a 96-win pace since mid-April (45-31, .592), the Red Sox are now further away from first place with less time to get there.
Manager Alex Cora says his team has been "consistent at being inconsistent". Xander Bogaerts adds: "You can't go on a roll if you win one, lose one, win one, lose one."
Nathan Eovaldi will have a rehab game with Pawtucket on Thursday and, if all goes well, rejoin the Red Sox bullpen this weekend.
Oh, good. It's Price v. Eck 2, Electric Boogaloo. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). ... Message to Price (who insists he has moved on and in the next breath shows everyone that he has not moved on):
AL East: Rays/MFY, 7 PM. ... MFY –, TBR 6.0, BOS 10.0.
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