BOSTON — The Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays had to wait around for more than an hour Saturday night before kicking off their division matchup as a massive thunderstorm rolled through eastern Massachusetts.
It then took all of five minutes to get the scoring started.
The Blue Jays struck first, with Edwin Encarnacion scoring on a Jose Bautista double, but the Red Sox quickly countered, plating runs in each of the first four inning en route to a 4-3 win.
— Clay Buchholz slogged through the first inning — yielding a single, walk and a double, all with two outs — and allowed the leadoff man to reach in the second before dialing in. The right-hander proceeded to retire the next 12 batters as the Red Sox built a three-run lead. and Buchholz exited after 6 1/3 innings having allowed just the one run. He was especially unfriendly to the bottom four batters in Toronto’s order, who went a combined 1-for-9 with five strikeouts against the Red Sox starter.
“In that seventh inning, (Buchholz) started to elevate some pitches, and we looked to make a move to the ‘pen,” manager John Farrell said after the game. “But he’s still in a really good run. Not only the last three times out for him, but over a month, month and a half, he’s thrown the ball very consistently.”
— Buchholz was charged with an additional run, however, when Craig Breslow relieved him and promptly surrendered a two-run homer to pinch hitter Colby Rasmus. The home run, which brought the Jays to within one, scored Danny Valencia, whom Buchholz had hit with a pitch before getting the hook.
Farrell, stating the obvious, remarked that this “has not been a Craig Breslow-type of year at all.” After being one of Boston’s steadiest relievers in 2013, Breslow carries a bloated, 4.88 ERA this season and has allowed runs in six of his last 17 appearances.
— Brock Holt was held out of the lineup, snapping his streak of 99 consecutive games played. Holt left Friday’s game with dizziness brought on by an illness and still was experiencing symptoms the following morning. Farrell said he would have been available off the bench.
— Mookie Betts assumed the leadoff role in Holt’s absence and tripled into the center field triangle in his first at-bat. It was the rookie’s first career three-bagger.
— Mike Napoli seems to have caught some sort of bug, too. He exited the game after just one at-bat. The first baseman singled to lead off the bottom of the second inning and later scored from third on a base hit by Will Middlebrooks, but he did not return to the field to begin the third.
“He came out with some lightheadedness,” Farrell said. “I don’t know if it’s similar to the symptoms that Brock is going through, but, precautionary, we had to get him off his feet.”
— Allen Craig, who moved from right field to first base after Napoli’s exit, and Dustin Pedroia both showed off some rather impressive glovework.
— As did Betts, whose diving catch to end the eighth inning might have saved the game for the Red Sox.
— Christian Vazquez missed his first career home run by about four feet in the fourth inning, but his RBI double off the Green Monster scored Will Middlebrooks from first base with the Red Sox’s fourth run in as many innings.
— Burke Badenhop, Drake Britton and Edward Mujica combined for 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, with Mujica recording the final two outs to pick up his fourth save of the season.`
Photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
