Boston Red Sox starting pitcher James Paxton (65) is congratulated by third base coach Kyle Hudson (84) as he exits the game during eighth inning American League MLB baseball action against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, on Friday, June 30, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
TORONTO – Jarren Duran had a two-run homer and Masataka Yoshida a solo shot in the sixth inning as the Boston Red Sox downed the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0 on Friday.
Justin Turner’s home run opened the scoring as Boston (41-42) snapped a five-game losing skid. He drove in another run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
James Paxton (4-1) of Ladner, B.C., was superb for the Red Sox, striking out seven over 7 2/3 scoreless innings. He only gave up three hits before giving way to relievers Chris Martin and Kaleb Ort.
José BerrÃos (8-6) gave up four runs on five hits despite striking out eight and issuing no walks over six innings for the Blue Jays (45-38).
Relievers Trent Thornton and Mitch White came on after BerrÃos, giving up a run over three innings.
Toronto has lost all five of its games against Boston so far this season.
The Blue Jays have a winning record against every division in Major League Baseball this season, except their own. Toronto is 7-18 against its American League East rivals in 2023, including a four-game sweep in Boston to start May.
“That was a great series in Boston. I had a great time,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider, tongue firmly planted in cheek. “They can hit, they can put runs up, they stole a lot of bases off of us. They’re dangerous.”
The Red Sox had six left-handed hitters in their lineup to start against the right-handed BerrÃos. That ploy wasn’t immediately effective against him as he struck out four batters in the first four innings.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., brought the 37,218 at Rogers Centre to their feet in the first inning when he sent a 96.6 mile-per-hour four-seam fastball from Paxton to deep centre field. Duran jumped to catch the ball just over the outfield wall, flexing and shouting after making the run-saving grab.
Turner finally got to BerrÃos in the fifth, leading off the inning with a home run. Turner’s 12th of the season came on a full count and travelled 379 feet into the Blue Jays’ bullpen.
Both BerrÃos and Paxton had been humming along until Turner’s home run, with the first four innings of the game taking less than an hour.
BerrÃos continued to struggle in the sixth, giving up three runs in quick succession.
Connor Wong led off the inning with a double and then Duran scored him with a towering home run to centre field. He smashed an 85.4 m.p.h. change-up from BerrÃos 417 feet.
Two batters later, Yoshida hit his ninth homer of the season to make it 4-0 for Boston. That blast also came off of a change-up, this time going 444 feet to deep right field.
Although BerrÃos ended the inning with back-to-back strikeouts, the damage had been done and Thornton came out of the bullpen for the next inning.
Turner tacked on another run in the eighth with a sacrifice fly to centre field, giving Alex Verdugo ample time to score from third for a 5-0 lead.
POP PROGRESS – Relief pitcher Zach Pop of Brampton, Ont., threw an inning with Toronto’s triple-A affiliate in Buffalo, N.Y., on Thursday and is scheduled to throw again on Saturday as he recovers from a right hamstring strain.
RYU AND GREEN RECOVERY – Pitchers Hyun-Jin Ryu and Chad Green, who are both recovering from Tommy John surgery, continue to make progress at the Blue Jays’ training facility in Dunedin, Fla. Ryu threw three innings on Wednesday and will pitch in a game on July 4 either in single A or the Florida Complex League. Green will pitch one inning on Saturday.
ON DECK – Yusei Kikuchi (7-2) gets the start as Toronto continues its three-game series with the Red Sox.
Boston will send Kutter Crawford (2-4) to the mound for the matinee.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2023.
