Final, Blue Jays 5-1: In the end, the outcome of the game hinged on Daniel Bard's woes.
Bard struggled with his control, issuing six walks while plunking two more batters. All in all, he recorded just five outs and yielded five runs before he was yanked.
The Red Sox will have plenty to think about for the rest of Sunday and during Monday's off day in terms of how to handle the Bard experiment moving forward.
Through 11 starts, Bard has recorded more walks (37) than strikeouts (34).
End 8th, Blue Jays 5-1: Rich Hill prolonged the team's recent stretch of success in the bullpen, tossing another shutout inning.
Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine has to be applauded for the job that he's done with the bullpen. There may be questions with the starters, but the bullpen has been terrific.
Hill has lowered his ERA to 2.84 with that appearance.
Mid 8th, Blue Jays 5-1: Old veteran Darren Oliver continues to carry the torch, retiring Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz.
Then, Francisco Cordero came into the picture. On the first pitch that he threw, Cordero let off some high heat at Youkilis' head — yet again.
This time around, Youkilis didn't react. But after the at-bat, he was visibly frustrated.
End 7th, Blue Jays 5-1: Scott Atchison reponded by tossing a quick frame of his own, one that only took eight pitches.
After that inning, he's elevated his ERA to 0.86. This marked his 22nd appearance of the season and it ranks as the highest mark for AL relievers.
That's consistency.
Mid 7th, Blue Jays 5-1: It took just 11 pitches for Hutchison to make quick work of the Sox' batters.
He's at 109 pitches and could be looking at a complete game, that's if Toronto manager John Farrell gives him the opportunity.
I'd have to think Morales will be done. Fortunately, he — and the bullpen — will get a nice off day on Monday to rest up.
End 6th, Blue Jays 5-1: Franklin Morales has been fantastic. He's given the Red Sox an opportunity to win despite the tough odds.
He was thrown into the fire and 52 pitches later, he's still standing and posting zeros. At this point, I have to think he's done.
But regardless, the team has to recognize his performance.
Mid 6th, Blue Jays 5-1: It looks like the Blue Jays wanted to retaliate after Bard plunked two of their batters.
Hutchison went up and in on Kevin Youkilis and nailed him on the shoulder. Youkilis was furious and seemed like he wanted a piece of the pitcher.
The Red Sox have enough to worry about with Bard. Another possible tussle wouldn't be good.
End 5th, Blue Jays 5-1: Franklin Morales has been a strikeout machine, registering his fourth strikeout through three innings.
He also got some defensive help from Daniel Nava, who fired a laser at third base to get David Cooper nailed.
Nava said he's worked on his defense over the past year in Pawtucket and since his last stint in Boston. Clearly, he's evolved into a better athlete.
Mid 5th, Blue Jays 5-1: Kelly Shoppach picked up his third home run of the season, belting a solo shot.
It's the first time this season that he hasn't been part of back-to-back home runs.
The first two times that Shoppach went yard, he did it just seconds after Daniel Nava achieved the feat. Over the last few weeks, Boston has received a good chunk of offensive production from their catchers.
End 4th, Blue Jays 5-0: Franklin Morales tossed his second straight scoreless inning. He managed to add another strikeout to his total and finally managed to retire Jose Bautista.
But that may be all for Morales.
During the fourth, the Sox had Scott Atchison warming up for some long relief duty. No one expected this much of a workload with Daniel Bard on the mound.
Mid 4th, Blue Jays 5-0: That was the second straight at-bat that Ryan Sweeney belted a deep fly ball that plopped down on the warning track.
Adrian Gonzalez told me that Sweeney is capable of hitting home runs. Well, Sweeney has been very close to going yard in these two at-bats against Hutchison.
End 3rd, Blue Jays 5-0: Amid the quick call to the bullpen, Franklin Morales has pitched well.
He racked up two strikeouts and, if Nick Punto didn't make a throwing error, Morales could've emerged from the inning earlier.
But the Red Sox have quite the quandry now with Bard. Is he the candidate to leave the rotation when Daisuke Matsuzaka returns?
Mid 3rd, Blue Jays 5-0: Blue Jays starter Drew Hutchinson started the inning by plunking Kelly Shoppach.
Shoppach, however, appeared to lean into the pitch, so it didn't seem to be intentional. Plus, everyone knows that Bard didn't hit anyone on purpose. His control was just way off.
But the Red Sox offense could move Shoppach around the base paths as the next three hitters were called out.
End 2nd, Blue Jays 5-0: Daniel Bard couldn't make it through the second inning and exited as Franklin Morales took over.
This was a huge step back and it's clear that the Daniel Bard experiment is in serious jeopardy of being shut down. It was a disaster of an outing for the hurler.
1:59 p.m: The scene is just getting worse and worse for Daniel Bard.
He walked two more batters to the start the second and then — with the bases loaded — Bard issued a free pass to Jose Bautista.
That's not to mention that he plunked Yunel Escobar in the thumb and Edwin Encarnacion in the wrist. That's some serious control issues for Bard.
Mid 2nd, Blue Jays 3-0: Like Gonzalez, Mike Aviles bounced back from Saturday's 0-for-5 day and hit a single with two outs.
But Saturday's hero, Nick Punto, couldn't keep it going and grounded out in his first at-bat. But Punto was eventually due for a breakout game.
Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine cited the lack of at-bats and subsequent timing issue to Punto's early struggles. Now, he's getting those at-bats with Dustin Pedroia out.
End 1st, Blue Jays 3-0: Daniel Bard is simply struggling to locate his fastball right now and is reverting to old struggles. This must be worrisome for the Red Sox.
Bard walked three of the first four batters that he faced, bringing him to 33 walks and 32 strikeouts for the season so far. That's not the ratio that any pitcher would want.
It warranted a visit from Bob McClure and Red Sox relievers are already warming up after Bautista's homer. It took 25 pitches for Bard to get his first — and second — out.
1:27 p.m.: Jose Bautista smacked a homer off a Red Sox pitcher for the second straight day. This one was a three-run shot off Daniel Bard.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Adrian Gonzalez shook off that 0-for-5 performance from Saturday's game pretty quickly.
The slugger belted Hutchison's breaking ball to right field for a double. It was a close play at second base — especially since Gonzalez doesn't have much speed — but he managed to beat it out.
It's a nice for Gonzalez to wipe out all memories from Saturday's lackluster game.
10:45 p.m.: Here are the lineups.
Red Sox
Scott Podsednik, CF
Daniel Nava, LF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
Ryan Sweeney, RF
Mike Aviles, SS
Nick Punto, 2B
Kelly Shoppach, C
Daniel Bard, P
Blue Jays
Kelly Johnson, 2B
Yunel Escobar, SS
Jose Bautista, RF
Edwin Encarnacion, DH
David Cooper, 1B
Brett Lawrie, 3B
Colby Rasmus, CF
J.P. Arencibia, C
Rajai Davis, LF
Drew Hutchison, P
8 a.m. ET: The Red Sox (28-25) are gaining steam with two straight wins and are on the precipice of sweeping the Blue Jays (27-26). Also, with Saturday's win, the Red Sox are no longer the cellar-dwellers of the American League East — for the first time this season. They've leapfrogged the Blue Jays in the standings. Daniel Bard, who is 5-5 with a 4.56 ERA, will look to continue carrying the club back up the AL standings.
When the righty last faced the Blue Jays on April 10, he struggled against their hitters, yielding five runs in five innings. But Bard is coming off a solid win against the Tigers, where he cut down on his walks after walking at least four in each of his four previous starts. In his last three starts, Bard is 2-1 with a 5.17 ERA and nine strikeouts. He'll go up against Jays pitcher Drew Hutchison, who is 4-2 with a 4.84 ERA.
For more analysis, follow NESN.com's live blog. Tune into NESN's pregame show at noon. First pitch is scheduled for 1:07 p.m.
