It was a blustery, cold night in Boston. I didn’t see any precipitation, unlike last night, but the Fisher Cats got snowed on in nearby Manchester NH earlier in the afternoon.
The Jays didn’t look to be affected, though. The offence racked up six runs on fifteen base runners, and the pitching, lead by Easton Lucas, shut the Red Sox down pretty comfortably. With the Yankees taking a loss earlier today the Jays find themselves in first place, however briefly.
Easton Lucas was terrific. He got on a roll right out of the gate, sitting the first eight Red Sox down with four strikeouts. Cedane Rafaela lined a two out single in the third, though, and then he walked Jaren Duran on four pitches. He managed to get Rafael Devers to ground out to end the threat. He gave up a second hit in the fourth, but kept it scoreless. He struck out two more in the fifth and one more in the sixth before a Devers single knocked him out of the game. All told he went 5.1 innings, allowing just three hits and a walk while striking out eight. You have to say he handily out duelled Crochet, which isn’t half bad for an emergency call up.
Chad Green took over and got out of the inning.
The offence loaded the bases against Garrett Crochet in the first. Bo Bichette singled to lead off, and then after two outs George Springer walked and Ernie Clement singled, but Crochet got Davis Schneider looking to escape the jam.
Bichette added another hit in the third, and Tyler Heineman lined a single in the fifth, but they couldn’t cash either runner in.
Finally, in the sixth, George Springer broke the deadlock with a towering solo shot 404 feet to centre field. The Sox decided to gift the Jays a second run at that point. Davis Schneider reached on a throwing error by Alex Bregman, Myles Straw walked, and Tyler Heineman singled on what really should have been an error on Kristian Campbell, allowing Schneider to score. Alan Roden followed with a walk of his own to knock Crochet out of the game. Bichette kept it going with his second hit of the night, plating two and making it 4-0.
George Springer added his second hit of the night in the seventh. Yariel Rodriguez started the bottom half. Boston got on the board with a Romy Gonzalez double down the third base line and a Rafaela ground ball single that Andres Gimenez couldn’t quite grab. Brendon Little got the call to get the third out, and in spite of a wild pitch managed to strike Duran out.
Toronto got the run back in the eighth. A Tyler Heineman walk and singles by Myles Straw and Bichette plated one to bump the lead back to four. Guerrero was hit on the shoulder to load the bases, and Anthony Santander grounded out to add another, making it 6-1. Mason Fluharty took over for Little, working around a throwing error by Bichette to record a clean inning.
After a quiet top of the ninth, it fell to Jacob Barnes to try to finish it off. He did, although not without a little drama. The first two batters reached on line singles, prompting John Schneider to call closer Jeff Hoffman to warm up. A double play calmed the situation down, though, and he punched Brian Sabol out to end the game.
Jays of the Day: Lucas (0.289), Bichette (0.189), Springer (0.107), Heineman (0.177)
Not so much: Santander (-0.108)
The series continues tomorrow. Kevin Gausman (1-1, 3.97) faces Tanner Houck (0-1, 6.52). First pitch is on for 6:45pm ET.