Final, Blue Jays 6-1: Dustin McGowan slapped a bow on it with a scoreless ninth inning.
The Blue Jays completed a three-game sweep with a 6-1 win in Wednesday’s series finale. The Red Sox have dropped eight of their last nine games, putting them 12 games below .500 (48-60).
Brandon Workman struggled in place of Jon Lester, who was scratched from his scheduled start amid swirling trade rumors. Workman allowed five runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks over five innings.
Wednesday’s game marked Boston’s final contest before Thursday’s non-waiver trade deadline. There could be a lot of activity over the next several hours, so stick around with NESN.com.
Mid 9th, Blue Jays 6-1: Koji Uehara pitched a scoreless ninth inning with Boston trailing by five runs.
Uehara is another player whose name has been tossed around in trade rumors, though a deal involving the closer seems unlikely. The Red Sox probably will try to re-sign him after this season.
Dioner Navarro nearly took Uehara deep in the ninth inning. He smoked a ball to the warning track in right field, where Daniel Nava made the catch with his back up against the wall.
Dan Johnson grounded out and Colby Rasmus struck out.
End 8th, Blue Jays 6-1: The Red Sox are three outs away from dropping yet another contest.
Dustin Pedroia singled with one out in the eighth inning. That was the only offense Boston mustered up against Aaron Loup.
The Red Sox are 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and have left nine men on base.
Mid 8th, Blue Jays 6-1: The top of the Blue Jays’ order strung together a couple of hits in the eighth inning.
Burke Badenhop recorded two quick outs. Ryan Goins struck out swinging, and Anthony Gose grounded to first.
Jose Reyes and Melky Cabrera forced Badenhop to work a little bit. They produced back-to-back singles with two down.
The always dangerous Jose Bautista grounded out to end the inning.
End 7th, Blue Jays 6-1: Aaron Loup closed off Boston’s threat in the seventh inning.
Mark Buehrle came back out to begin the inning. He recorded back-to-back outs after Stephen Drew’s leadoff single, but a walk to Christian Vazquez ended the left-hander’s evening.
Loup took over and recorded the inning’s final out. He struck out Brock Holt swinging.
Burke Badenhop will pitch the eighth inning for Boston.
Mid 7th, Blue Jays 6-1: Andrew Miller was very impressive in what could be his final appearance in a Red Sox uniform.
It’s actually somewhat surprising the Red Sox chose to use Miller given all of the trade speculation surrounding the left-hander. It seems like an unnecessary risk running him out there if they indeed are considering dealing him away.
In any event, Miller struck out the side in short order. Nolan Reimold, Colby Rasmus and Danny Valencia were set down by the lefty.
Reimold pinch-hit for Juan Francisco. Valencia pinch-hit for Munenori Kawasaki.
End 6th, Blue Jays 6-1: The Red Sox couldn’t respond in the sixth inning.
Mark Buehrle worked a 1-2-3 frame. Dustin Pedroia, Mike Napoli and Jonny Gomes failed to make any noise.
Buehrle struck out Gomes looking to end the inning.
Mid 6th, Blue Jays 6-1: The Blue Jays offered a rebuttal.
Shortly after the Red Sox hopped onto the scoreboard, the Blue Jays snagged a run right back.
Craig Breslow took over after five innings from Brandon Workman. It was a tough night on the hill for the young right-hander.
Anthony Gose singled with one out. He advanced to third base on Melky Cabrera’s two-out single. Jose Bautista walked to load the bases.
Dioner Navarro shot a single into right field. Gose scored easily, but Cabrera was thrown out at the plate.
The play was reviewed to see if there was a home-plate collision. There wasn’t, however, and the call was upheld.
Workman allowed five runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks. He struck out two and threw 99 pitches (57 strikes).
End 5th, Blue Jays 5-1: The Red Sox are on the board.
Xander Bogaerts and Christian Vazquez connected on a pair of doubles in the fifth inning to cut Toronto’s lead to 5-1.
Bogaerts, who homered in Tuesday’s loss, drilled a ball off the center field wall. Two batters later, Vazquez hit a line drive toward right field that kicked up into the Red Sox’s bullpen for a ground-rule, RBI double.
Daniel Nava also pinch-hit for Shane Victorino in the inning. Assuming Victorino didn’t get traded, there must be something physically wrong with the outfielder.
Victorino, of course, has been banged up all season.
Mid 5th, Blue Jays 5-0: The Blue Jays scored three unearned runs in the fifth inning.
Brandon Workman heaved himself between a rock and a hard place. He issued a leadoff walk to Anthony Gose, who then stole second base.
Jose Reyes dropped down a bunt that Workman fielded. The right-hander fired a poor throw in the dirt, though, and Brock Holt couldn’t scoop it. Gose scored on the throwing error.
The sloppy defense continued when Melky Cabrera hit a ground ball to the left side that Xander Bogaerts couldn’t handle. Reyes went from first to third on the miscue.
Reyes scored Toronto’s fourth run when Dioner Navarro singled into center field. Cabrera scampered home from third base when Juan Francisco hit a high chopper on which Workman had no play.
End 4th, Blue Jays 2-0: Mike Napoli has dealt with swelling in his finger in recent days. It didn’t prevent him from putting good wood on the ball in the fourth inning.
Napoli hit a line drive to deep left field with one out. Melky Cabrera couldn’t make the grab, and Napoli cruised into second base.
The Red Sox again spoiled a scoring opportunity, though. Jonny Gomes grounded out, and Stephen Drew flied out.
Mid 4th, Blue Jays 2-0: Brandon Workman enjoyed his most effective inning yet in the fourth.
Workman took care of Colby Rasmus, Munenori Kawasaki and Ryan Goins in order. He threw just 10 pitches in a very efficient frame.
The inning started with a nice defensive play by Jonny Gomes. Rasmus shot a line drive to left field, and Gomes retreated to the warning track to make a lunging grab.
Kawasaki and Goins grounded out.
End 3rd, Blue Jays 2-0: Quick and effective.
That’s a pretty accurate description of Mark Buehrle. He showed it in the third inning, retiring the Red Sox with relative ease.
Christian Vazquez, Brock Holt and Shane Victorino went down in order. Buehrle only needed seven pitches to make it happen.
Jose Reyes capped the scoreless inning with a nice play ranging into the hole. He delivered a strong throw to keep Victorino off the bases.
Mid 3rd, Blue Jays 2-0: Brandon Workman has settled down a bit since his rough first inning.
Workman walked Dioner Navarro with two outs in the third inning — his third walk of the game — but it didn’t lead to any damage on the scoreboard.
Juan Francisco popped out to Dustin Pedroia in shallow right field for the inning’s third out.
Workman, who threw 36 pitches in the first inning, is up to 59 overall.
End 2nd, Blue Jays 2-0: Stephen Drew’s double didn’t amount to anything in the second inning.
Drew yanked a double into the right field corner with one out. Mark Buehrle bounced back to retire Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr.
Bogaerts and Bradley both grounded out.
Mid 2nd, Blue Jays 2-0: While Brock Holt still looks out of place at first base — probably because of his size — he made an excellent play in the second inning that resulted in two outs.
Anthony Gose ripped a bullet in Holt’s direction after Ryan Goins led off with a single into right field. Holt dived to knock it down.
Holt stepped on the bag and then began chasing Goins toward second base. A rundown never commenced, as Holt tagged out Goins to complete an unassisted double play.
Jose Reyes grounded to second base for the third out.
End 1st, Blue Jays 2-0: The Red Sox couldn’t do anything with Dustin Pedroia’s two-out single in the first inning.
Brock Holt and Shane Victorino both took aim at their counterparts. Holt grounded to first base and Victorino flied to right field.
Pedroia singled into left field, but Mark Buehrle ended the inning by getting Mike Napoli to hit a chopper over the mound.
Mid 1st, Blue Jays 2-0: Brandon Workman might not be long for this game. Workman threw 36 pitches in a very shaky first inning.
Workman issued back-to-back walks to begin his outing. Jose Reyes and Melky Cabrera both reached.
Workman struck out Jose Bautista, but Dioner Navarro dropped a soft line drive into right-center field. Reyes raced around from second base with the game’s first run.
Juan Francisco hit a sharp ground ball to first. Brock Holt made the play and fired home. It was an aggressive play, and Cabrera slid in just ahead of the tag to give Toronto a 2-0 lead.
7:11 p.m.: Brandon Workman misses with his first pitch.
7:04 p.m.: The Red Sox completed a trade Wednesday, sending pitcher Felix Doubront to the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later.
Doubront has been very vocal about his frustration regarding his relief role with Boston. It seemed like a matter of time before the Red Sox traded him, and the left-hander now will join Theo Epstein, who drafted him back in 2005.
Doubront’s departure opened a roster spot for Wednesday’s starter, Brandon Workman.
6:55 p.m.: David Ortiz is out of the Red Sox’s starting lineup.
Don’t worry. Big Papi isn’t going anywhere. It’s a routine down day for the slugger. The Red Sox are looking to take advantage of Thursday’s off day, which will allow Ortiz to have two consecutive days off.
Mike Napoli will serve as the designated hitter in Ortiz’s absence. Brock Holt will play first base.
Wednesday’s complete lineups are below.
Boston Red Sox (48-59)
Brock Holt, 1B
Shane Victorino, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Mike Napoli, DH
Jonny Gomes, LF
Stephen Drew, SS
Xander Bogaerts, 3B
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Christian Vazquez, C
Brandon Workman, RHP (1-3, 4.13 ERA)
Toronto Blue Jays (58-50)
Jose Reyes, SS
Melky Cabrera, LF
Jose Bautista, 1B
Dioner Navarro, C
Juan Francisco, DH
Colby Rasmus, CF
Munenori Kawasaki, 3B
Ryan Goins, 2B
Anthony Gose, RF
Mark Buehrle, LHP (10-7, 3.19 ERA)
6:30 p.m. ET: The Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline is less than 24 hours away. Because of all the hysteria, it’s easy to forget that there’s actually a baseball game about to be played at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox will host the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday in the finale of the clubs’ three-game series. The Jays have taken the first two contests, with the Sox’s offense once again struggling to put runs on the board.
Jon Lester originally was scheduled to start Wednesday, but he has been scratched in favor of Brandon Workman. Lester has been the subject of trade rumors in recent days, and the Red Sox thought it would be best to step back from the uncertainty. Thus, Workman gets the nod.
Wednesday’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.
