Final, Blue Jays 7-4: The Red Sox made some noise in the ninth inning. But that’s all it was.
The Red Sox brought the tying run to the plate against Blue Jays closer Casey Janssen, and David Ortiz even launched a deep foul ball down the right field line. Janssen ultimately closed out the game by getting Mike Napoli to ground into a double play.
The Blue Jays pounded four home runs in their win. Edwin Encarnacion hit two long balls. Erik Kratz and Melky Cabrera each smacked one.
Felix Doubront exited Tuesday’s start in the fifth inning with left shoulder fatigue. He was charged with five earned runs on five hits, including two homers, over four-plus innings.
Jonny Gomes led the way offensively for Boston with three hits, including a two-run homer. Dustin Pedroia, Mike Napoli and Brock Holt each produced two hits. It still wasn’t enough, however, as the Blue Jays’ offense really flexed its muscle.
The Red Sox will look to bounce back against the Blue Jays on Wednesday. Clay Buchholz will take the ball.
Mid 9th, Blue Jays 7-4: Junichi Tazawa battled. He ultimately kept the Blue Jays scoreless, though, and the Red Sox will come up in the ninth inning down three runs.
Melky Cabrera singled and advanced to second base when Tazawa uncorked a wild pitch.
Jose Bautista drew a seven-pitch walk.
Tazawa rebounded to strike out Edwin Encarnacion, who has homered twice in this game. Encarnacion went down looking at a fastball that caught the corner.
Brett Lawrie lined to Mike Napoli for an unassisted, inning-ending double play.
The top of the Red Sox’s order — Dustin Pedroia, Shane Victorino and David Ortiz — is due up in the ninth inning for Boston.
End 8th, Blue Jays 7-4: The Red Sox failed to score in the eighth inning despite putting their first two hitters on base.
Jonny Gomes singled, and Xander Bogaerts walked as the Red Sox began to threaten down three runs. The rally all-but ended there, and manager John Farrell deserves some of the blame.
Brock Holt bunted to move Gomes and Bogaerts into scoring position with one out. The move would have made sense if the Red Sox trailed by two runs, but with a three-run deficit, it wasn’t Farrell’s smartest decision of the year, especially with David Ross on deck.
Ross struck out swinging. Jackie Bradley Jr. popped out to end the inning, leaving the Red Sox three offensive outs away from their fifth straight loss.
Mid 8th, Blue Jays 7-4: Craig Breslow tossed a scoreless eighth inning.
Anthony Gose singled with one out, but Breslow induced a ground ball that turned into a nifty, 6-4-3 double play.
Jonny Gomes, who homered in the sixth, will lead off the bottom of the eighth inning for Boston.
End 7th, Blue Jays 7-4: The Blue Jays used three pitchers as part of a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
Dustin McGowan retired Shane Victorino on a groundout.
Lefty Rob Rasmussen, making his major league debut, took care of David Ortiz via a ground ball to first base.
Mike Napoli grounded to third base against Steve Delabar.
Mid 7th, Blue Jays 7-4: Burke Badenhop held down the Blue Jays’ offense in the seventh inning.
Brett Lawrie, Dioner Navarro and Steve Tolleson went down in order against Badenhop, who recorded the final out of the sixth inning.
End 6th, Blue Jays 7-4: Jonny Gomes’ home run took some time to get sorted out. But it indeed was a two-run blast.
Mike Napoli led off with a hard-hit grounder up the middle. Shortstop Jose Reyes dived to knock it down in shallow left-center field, but he didn’t have any play.
Gomes lifted a first-pitch changeup to left field. The ball landed on top of the Green Monster — over the line and in front of the little ledge — for a two-run homer. The umpires initially missed the call, but a review issued by crew chief Gary Cederstrom made things right.
The Red Sox threatened for more in the sixth inning behind back-to-back singles from Xander Bogaerts and Brock Holt. Boston couldn’t cash in despite having two on with no outs.
David Ross popped up a bunt in foul territory for the first out. Jackie Bradley Jr. flied out to center field, and Dustin Pedroia struck out.
Mid 6th, Blue Jays 7-2: The Blue Jays are teeing off at Fenway.
Edward Mujica surrendered his second home run of the game in the sixth inning. The Blue Jays have smacked four homers overall.
Melky Cabrera went deep off Mujica in the sixth inning. He planted a high fly ball right off Pesky’s Pole.
Burke Badenhop was called upon to replace Mujica after Jose Bautista’s two-out single. Badenhop closed things off with the Red Sox trailing 7-2.
End 5th, Blue Jays 6-2:Â The Red Sox broke through against J.A. Happ in the fifth inning.
Brock Holt, who made a couple of nice defensive plays back in the first inning, led off with a double in the fifth inning. It was the first of three doubles in the inning for Boston.
Jackie Bradley Jr. doubled high off the Green Monster to plate Holt. Dustin Pedroia then doubled to left field to knock in Bradley with Boston’s second run.
David Ortiz gave one a ride toward the Red Sox’s bullpen with two outs. Center fielder Kevin Pillar glided over to make the catch just before the warning track.
Mid 5th, Blue Jays 6-0: Felix Doubront exited in the fifth inning with an apparent injury, though he probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer in this game, anyway.
Jose Reyes and Melky Cabrera began the fifth inning with back-to-back doubles against Doubront. Cabrera’s RBI double knocked in Toronto’s fourth run of the game.
Red Sox manager John Farrell, pitching coach Juan Nieves and the team’s trainer went out to visit Doubront after Cabrera’s double. Something apparently was wrong, as Farrell summoned Edward Mujica from the bullpen soon after the conversation.
Mujica struck out Jose Bautista for the inning’s first out. Edwin Encarnacion then launched his second home run of the game, an absolute missile off the AAA sign located atop the Green Monster.
Dioner Navarro added a ground-rule double, and Xander Bogaerts committed his second error of the game before the disastrous inning finally ended for the Red Sox.
End 4th, Blue Jays 3-0: The Red Sox left the bases loaded in the fourth inning, thanks to Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie.
David Ortiz and Mike Napoli worked back-to-back walks with one out. Jonny Gomes followed with a rocket to the mound that J.A. Happ knocked down but couldn’t do anything with upon retrieving.
Xander Bogaerts put together a nice at-bat against Happ and capped it by sizzling a 3-1 fastball to the left side. Lawrie completely laid out to knock it down, which prevented the ball from ending up in left field and the Red Sox from scoring at least one run.
Lawrie almost caught the liner. The ball popped out, though, and it actually worked in Toronto’s favor. Lawrie stepped on third base for a forceout and fired home, where catcher Erik Kratz tagged out Ortiz to complete the unique, inning-ending double play.
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Mid 4th, Blue Jays 3-0: Erik Kratz followed in Edwin Encarnacion’s footsteps in the fourth inning.
Kratz, like Encarnacion, took Felix Doubront deep. The ball was smoked on a line to left-center field, where it cleared the wall and ended up in the Monster seats. The home run came on an 0-1 fastball from Doubront.
Doubront walked the free-swinging Dioner Navarro to begin the fourth inning before inducing a 6-4-3 double play. If nothing else, the twin killing ensured Kratz’s blast was only of the solo variety.
Kevin Pillar grounded to third base to end the inning.
End 3rd, Blue Jays 2-0:Â J.A. Happ is piling up strikeouts for Toronto.
Happ has six K’s through three innings after striking out two more in the third inning. David Ross and Jackie Bradley Jr. were the two Sox hitters victimized in the third.
Dustin Pedroia flied out to left field to end the inning.
Mid 3rd, Blue Jays 2-0: Edwin Encarnacion clobbered a two-run homer in the third inning to give the Jays a 2-0 lead.
Melky Cabrera, who is putting together a nice season, doubled with one out. He slid in safely just ahead of Jonny Gomes’ toss.
Encarnacion unloaded on a 2-2 changeup from Felix Doubront for his 10th home run of 2014. It was an absolute blast that sailed over everything in left field.
End 2nd, 0-0: J.A. Happ decided the best way to avoid trouble was to not let the Red Sox make contact.
Mike Napoli led off with a single. Happ then struck out Jonny Gomes, Xander Bogaerts and Brock Holt.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Felix Doubront lacked control in the second inning.
Doubront walked two batters before escaping the frame unscathed. Dioner Navarro drew a four-pitch walk with one out, and Erik Kratz walked on five pitches with two down.
Doubront wiggled out of trouble behind two strikeouts. He struck out Steve Tolleson for the second out, and then finished the inning by striking out Kevin Pillar.
End 1st, 0-0: The Red Sox went down in order against J.A. Happ in the first inning.
Brett Lawrie made sure the first inning remained a frame of defensive excellence for the third base position. Lawrie answered Brock Holt’s solid inning with a nice stop on a hot shot from Dustin Pedroia.
Shane Victorino flied to right field, and David Ortiz struck out.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Xander Bogaerts won’t have an issue throwing across the diamond when he moves to third base upon Stephen Drew’s return. The 21-year-old shortstop airmailed a throw in the first inning.
Bogaerts made a nice play going into the hole on a ground ball from Melky Cabrera. His throw sailed about five feet over first baseman Mike Napoli’s head, though.
The real highlights of the inning were provided by Brock Holt, who robbed both Jose Reyes and Edwin Encarnacion. Holt made a couple of diving, backhanded plays — one to open the inning and one to end the inning.
7:11 p.m.: Felix Doubront deals a first-pitch strike. We’re underway at Fenway Park.
6:50 p.m.: Tuesday’s complete lineups are below.
Boston Red Sox (20-23)
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Shane Victorino, RF
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Napoli, 1B
Jonny Gomes, LF
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Brock Holt, 3B
David Ross, C
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Felix Doubront, LHP (2-3, 4.54 ERA)
Toronto Blue Jays (23-22)
Jose Reyes, SS
Melky Cabrera, LF
Jose Bautista, RF
Edwin Encarnacion, 1B
Brett Lawrire, 3B
Dioner Navarro, DH
Steve Tolleson, 2B
Erik Kratz, C
Kevin Pillar, CF
J.A. Happ, LHP (2-1, 3.57 ERA)
6:30 p.m. ET: The Boston Red Sox made a splash Tuesday.
The Red Sox agreed to a one-year contract with free-agent shortstop Stephen Drew. The move was made to help bolster the left side of Boston’s infield, though Drew won’t be around Tuesday when the Red Sox begin their three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park.
Drew is expected to arrive at Fenway Park for a physical on Wednesday, according to Red Sox manager John Farrell. Drew eventually will man shortstop for the Red Sox, but it might not be for a couple of weeks, as the 31-year-old will need 25 at-bats or so to work his way into game speed.
Felix Doubront will face J.A. Happ on Tuesday as the Red Sox look to snap a four-game losing streak. The Sox dropped three games over the weekend to the Detroit Tigers, marking Boston’s first four-game losing streak since 2012.
Tuesday’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Tune in on NESN, and keep it right here with NESN.com’s live blog.
