The Red Sox recorded season-highs in runs (14), hits (18) and home runs (four) en route to a 14-1 assault on the Blue Jays.
Each member of the Red Sox’s starting lineup besides Dustin Pedroia (0-for-4) finished with at least one hit. Everyone other than Pedroia and Christian Vazquez had at least two hits. Mike Napoli, Daniel Nava and Xander Bogaerts each had three hits.
David Ortiz, who vowed Sunday to get “hotter than Jamaica in the middle of August,” drilled two home runs and finished with four RBIs. Napoli and Stephen Drew each added a blast.
The Red Sox scored each inning from the second through the fifth. Boston scored six runs in the fifth inning to really open things up.
The offense clearly was the big story, but John Lackey was outstanding. Lackey allowed only one run on two hits over seven innings. He struck out three, didn’t walk anyone and needed just 76 pitches (58 strikes) to complete his seven frames.
The Sox now have won eight of their last nine games, including five straight. Jake Peavy will pitch Tuesday as Boston looks to keep rolling.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 14-1: Craig Breslow will be the next Red Sox pitcher to get in some work.
The Red Sox went down in order in the ninth inning. Jackie Bradley Jr. and Christian Vazquez grounded out. Brock Holt flied out to left field, where Darin Mastroianni made a sliding grab.
Breslow will enter to record the final three outs after Felix Doubront tossed a scoreless eighth inning.
End 8th, Red Sox 14-1: Felix Doubront looked well-rested.
Doubront, who hadn’t pitched since July 7, needed just seven pitches to toss a scoreless eighth inning. He struck out two.
We’ll head to the ninth inning with Boston leading by 13 runs.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 14-1: Daniel Nava beat out an infield single in the eighth inning for his third hit of the game.
Nava’s hit was Todd Redmond’s only blemish, as the Red Sox were held scoreless for the third straight inning. Boston’s bats must have worn themselves out.
John Lackey will give way to Felix Doubront after seven fantastic innings. Lackey retired the final 14 batters he faced while allowing just two hits.
End 7th, Red Sox 14-1: The Red Sox’s offense obviously is the story, but John Lackey has been excellent.
Lackey completed another scoreless inning in the seventh. He has held the Blue Jays to two hits while throwing just 76 pitches through seven innings.
Darin Mastroianni, Jose Bautista and Colby Rasmus went down in order in the seventh. Lackey has three strikeouts after fanning Rasmus to complete the inning.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 14-1: Jonny Gomes flied out to the edge of the warning track in his first at-bat.
It looked like Gomes’ drive to deep center field had a chance to leave the yard, but Colby Rasmus drifted back to make the catch.
Brock Holt struck out swinging and David Ortiz grounded out.
End 6th, Red Sox 14-1: John Lackey has thrown just 66 pitches while tossing six innings of one-run ball.
Lackey worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning. Anthony Gose, Steve Tolleson and Munenori Kawasaki went down in order.
Brock Holt, who nearly ran through the outfield wall in the fifth inning, moved to second base before the bottom of the sixth. Dustin Pedroia will receive the rest of the night off, as manager John Farrell indicated over the weekend they’d pick their spots in getting Pedey some rest.
Jonny Gomes is the new left fielder. Daniel Nava shifted over to right field.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 14-1: The Red Sox were held scoreless for the first time since the first inning.
Xander Bogaerts collected his third hit in the sixth inning, though. Boston has a season-high 17 hits total.
Dustin Pedroia (0-for-4) is the only hitter in the Red Sox’s starting lineup without a hit. Pedroia and Christian Vazquez are the only two starters without at least two hits.
End 5th, Red Sox 14-1: Even a 13-run cushion isn’t going to stop Brock Holt from nearly running through a wall.
Holt robbed Dan Johnson of extra bases in the fifth inning. Johnson scorched a line drive that Holt raced back to catch before banging into the fence.
It looked off the bat like Holt would have no chance to make the grab. Yet he got a good break and quickly made up ground en route to one of the Red Sox’s best defensive plays this season. Incredible.
John Lackey retired Erik Kratz and Juan Francisco to end the inning.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 14-1: The Red Sox’s offense looks like a well-oiled machine.
David Ortiz hit his second home run of the game in the fifth inning as the Red Sox scored six runs en route to extending their lead to 14-1. Mike Napoli also launched a home run in the inning.
Stephen Drew, who homered in the third inning, worked a leadoff walk in the fifth. Xander Bogaerts followed with a single.
Jackie Bradley Jr. ripped a sharp ground ball down the first base line that kicked away from Dan Johnson for an RBI double. Bradley has two hits and two RBIs.
Boston’s 10th run involved some aggressive baserunning from Bogaerts. Christian Vazquez grounded back to the mound and Bogaerts froze between third and home. Pitcher Brad Mills made the play and fired to first base, during which Bogaerts raced home.
Brock Holt singled home Bradley for Boston’s 11th run. Ortiz then drilled a two-run homer over the right field wall. Napoli ended up being Mills’ final batter, as he launched a solo blast over the left field fence.
The Red Sox have 14 runs on 16 hits through five innings. Yikes.
End 4th, Red Sox 8-1:Â John Lackey rebounded from giving up a run in the third inning to toss a scoreless fourth.
Lackey retired Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista and Colby Rasmus in order.
Lackey struck out Rasmus swinging on a cutter. It was Lackey’s first strikeout of the contest.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 8-1: David Ortiz vowed to get “hotter than Jamaica in the middle of August.” He’s trending in that direction.
Ortiz launched a two-run homer in the fourth inning. It followed a leadoff double from Brock Holt, whose average sits at .326.
Ortiz crushed Brad Mills’ 1-1 offering to straightaway center field. It marked his 21st home run of the season and his 34th home run in 105 career games at Rogers Centre.
Hot stuff, mon.
End 3rd, Red Sox 6-1: John Lackey and Christian Vazquez had a hard time getting on the same page in the third inning.
Erik Kratz led off with a double to the wall in left-center field. Jackie Bradley Jr. was shaded toward right-center, so even he didn’t have any chance of catching Kratz’s drive.
Lackey and Vazquez seemed to be on different wavelengths with Juan Francisco batting. Lackey apparently wanted to throw something other than what Vazquez was calling for, so the pair met on the mound. Francisco lined the next pitch over Daniel Nava’s head for an RBI double. Clearly, Vazquez still is adjusting to the pitching staff in his first major league call-up, which is to be expected.
Lackey settled down for three straight groundouts after Francisco’s double.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 6-0: Stephen Drew is starting to look more comfortable at the plate.
Drew drilled a three-run homer over the right field wall in the third inning. The Red Sox already have knocked Blue Jays starter Drew Hutchison from the game.
Hutchison, who worked a 1-2-3 first inning before struggling in the second inning, recorded two quick outs in the third. Dustin Pedroia popped out and David Ortiz flied out.
Then, it all fell apart for the right-hander.
Mike Napoli jump-started the offense with two-out, two-strike single into right field. Daniel Nava followed with a single into center field. Napoli and Nava both have two hits.
Drew then yanked a first-pitch changeup over the fence for his third home run of the season. Drew’s average is up to .178.
Xander Bogaerts kept things rolling with a single into center field. The Red Sox were aggressive in sending Bogaerts with Hutchison being very slow to home plate. It paid off, as Bogaerts scored from first base on Jackie Bradley Jr.’s base hit into right field. Right fielder Anthony Gose briefly bobbled Bradley’s hit and then fired to second base, for whatever reason, and that enabled Bogaerts to score.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons took the baseball from Hutchison at that point. Brad Mills — the pitcher whom the Oakland Athletics acquired for $1 earlier this season — entered and retired Christian Vazquez on a fly ball to left field.
Hutchison allowed six runs on nine hits over 2 2/3 innings before getting the hook.
End 2nd, Red Sox 2-0: John Lackey hasn’t spent much time on the mound. He has tossed two very quick innings.
Lackey rolled through Jose Bautista, Colby Rasmus and Dan Johnson in the second inning.
Bautista flied out to center field and Rasmus grounded to first base. The Red Sox went into the shift against Johnson, meaning shortstop Stephen Drew was responsible for handling a popup to second base.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 2-0: Drew Hutchison cruised through the first inning. He had no such luck in the second.
Mike Napoli led off with a drive to right-center field. Hutchison left a pitch up in the zone and Napoli turned it into a wall-ball double.
Daniel Nava, who entered the game hitting .382 (13-for-34) in July, followed with a soft liner into center field. Colby Rasmus started aggressively toward it but ended up backing off and playing it on a hop. Napoli had to hold up to make sure the ball dropped, so he only advanced to third base.
Stephen Drew knocked in Napoli with a line-drive single into right field. Drew’s average is at .170 and climbing.
Xander Bogaerts smoked a liner to third base that Juan Francisco snagged for the first out. Francisco looked to second base and thought about trying to double up Nava before wisely putting the ball in his back pocket.
Jackie Bradley Jr. grounded into a forceout that left runners at the corners for Christian Vazquez. It more or less was a sacrifice, though, as Bradley stole second base soon after.
Vazquez hit a high chopper to the left side. Hutchison stormed off the mound but couldn’t get a handle on the baseball. Nava scored from third base as Vazquez reached with an infield single.
Brock Holt ended the inning with a nine-pitch battle. He flied out to right field, but Boston grabbed two runs and jacked up Hutchison’s pitch count in the second.
End 1st, 0-0:Â John Lackey answered with a quick first inning.
Lackey retired Jose Reyes, Munenori Kawasaki and Melky Cabrera in order. Reyes and Cabrera scattered a couple of balls to the outfield, while Kawasaki grounded to first base.
The last time Lackey pitched at Rogers Centre was April 6, 2013, when the right-hander exited the game early in his first start back from Tommy John surgery. It was a scary scene, but everything turned out OK.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Impressive first inning for Drew Hutchison.
Hutchison struck out two while breezing through the first. Brock Holt and David Ortiz both went down swinging.
Holt struck out on three pitches and Ortiz struck out on four pitches. They went down on 94 and 95 mph fastballs, respectively.
Dustin Pedroia sneaked in a popup to shortstop Jose Reyes.
Hutchison threw 10 pitches. Nine were strikes.
7:08 p.m.: Brock Holt steps into the box.
6:50 p.m.: The Red Sox enter Monday’s game with a 2-4 record against the Blue Jays this season. The teams will square off seven times over the next 10 days.
David Ortiz, who went 1-for-13 against the Royals over the weekend, said he feels like he’s about to heat up. This series marks a good time for Big Papi to put the wheels in motion on that plan, as he has 33 home runs in 104 career games at Rogers Centre.
5:30 p.m.: Shane Victorino is not in the Red Sox’s starting lineup, though his absence is unsurprising.
Victorino was activated from the disabled list before Saturday’s game against the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park. Red Sox manager John Farrell said before Sunday’s game that the plan called for Victorino to play four out of five games to start, and Sunday marked his fourth consecutive contest including his rehab games at Triple-A Pawtucket.
Brock Holt, who continues to bounce around, will play right field Monday. He’ll be joined in the outfield by Jackie Bradley Jr. and Daniel Nava, both of whom had two hits in Sunday’s series finale against the Royals. Nava drove in three runs and is hot since being recalled June 2.
Monday’s complete lineups are below.
Boston Red Sox (46-52)
Brock Holt, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Napoli, 1B
Daniel Nava, LF
Stephen Drew, SS
Xander Bogaerts, 3B
Jackie Bradley Jr. CF
Christian Vazquez, C
John Lackey, RHP (10-6, 3.79 ERA)
Toronto Blue Jays (51-48)
Jose Reyes, SS
Munenori Kawasaki, 2B
Melky Cabrera, LF
Jose Bautista, DH
Colby Rasmus, CF
Dan Johnson, 1B
Erik Kratz, C
Juan Francisco, 3B
Anthony Gose, RF
Drew Hutchison, RHP (6-8, 4.16 ERA)
5:15 p.m. ET: The Boston Red Sox are on the upswing. They’ll look to carry that momentum north of the border Monday when they begin an important four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
The Red Sox have won seven of their last eight games, including four straight. Boston has won each of its first three games after the All-Star break for the first time since the 1996 squad won five in a row to begin the second half. The Red Sox’s current four-game winning streak is the club’s second-longest winning streak of the season, trailing only the seven-game spurt Boston enjoyed from May 26 to June 1.
The stakes are raising, though, as Boston’s next 13 games are against American League East opponents. That means the Red Sox have a golden opportunity to make up some ground and jump back into playoff contention, though Boston can’t afford to get ahead of itself. John Lackey will be the first starter called upon to carry the good times into the Red Sox’s seven-game road trip this week.
Lackey will face Drew Hutchison in Monday’s series opener in Toronto. Lackey enjoyed a very good first half, but the right-hander tailed off a bit over his final few starts. The veteran surely would like to elevate his game down the stretch as the Red Sox look to climb their way out of a sizable hole.
Monday’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. Tune in on NESN and keep it right here with NESN.com for updates.
