Another blown lead Sunday did not doom the Boston Red Sox, who scored two runs in the top of the 11th inning to salvage the finale of their three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Dustin Pedroia drove in the winning run with an RBI ground-rule double, and Clay Buchholz pitched an inning of scoreless relief to pick up the victory in a 5-3 win for Boston. It was the recently converted starter’s first relief appearance since 2008.
GAME IN A WORD
Necessary.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Red Sox, who have not lost four in a row all season.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
The Red Sox used two walks, a Pedroia double and an RBI groundout by Xander Bogaerts to take a two-run lead in the 11th, and Koji Uehara did not allow a baserunner in the home half of the frame to squash Toronto’s hopes of a series sweep.
ON THE BUMP
— David Price turned in the starting pitching performance Boston needed, holding the Blue Jays to two runs on five hits over 6 1/3 innings of work.
Price was tested early, throwing 28 pitches and walking two in the first inning before retiring the side to strand two runners in scoring position. The Red Sox ace responded by breezing through the next three frames.
The fifth inning proved problematic for Price, however. He allowed a single to Ezequiel Carrera and, after striking out Josh Thole, gave up a towering two-run home run to Jose Bautista that put the Blue Jays ahead 2-0.
Price also walked a batter in the inning before retiring the side. He then needed just seven pitches to complete a 1-2-3 sixth inning and allowed an infield single before exiting with one out in the seventh.
— Heath Hembree inherited a runner on second when he took over for Price, and he stranded him there, striking out Bautista and getting Josh Donaldson to fly out to right.
The wheels came off for the right-hander in the eighth, however, as he served up a game-tying leadoff home run to Edwin Encarnacion and gave up two more base hits before being lifted for Robbie Ross Jr. with two outs in the inning.
— Ross got Carrera to ground out to retire the side in the eighth, then worked around a walk and a single in the ninth to force extras.
— Buchholz, who was removed from the Red Sox’s rotation earlier in the week, worked a scoreless 10th, allowing one single and striking out one.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Mookie Betts tripled with one out in the sixth inning to break up a no-hit bid by Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey. Pedroia followed with a single to plate Boston’s first run of the afternoon.
After that came an excellent 12-pitch at-bat by Bogaerts, who fouled off seven pitches before stroking a single into left field to extend his major league-best hitting streak to 22 games.
From there, Dickey went off the rails, walking Travis Shaw to load the bases and plunking Hanley Ramirez to force in the tying run before being yanked by Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. Another walk — this one by Jackie Bradley Jr. against reliever Chad Girodo — brought in a third run to give the Red Sox their first lead of the ballgame.
— The Red Sox threatened in the top of the ninth, getting base hits from Christian Vazquez and Betts, but were unable to push the go-ahead run across. They put two more runners on in the 10th — Shaw singled and Jackie Bradley Jr. walked — but again failed to score.
— David Ortiz did not play for the Red Sox after being scratched from the lineup shortly before first pitch. The designated hitter was nursing a sore foot after being hit by a pitch during Saturday’s loss.
TWEET OF THE GAME
UP NEXT
The Red Sox travel to Baltimore on Monday to begin a four-game series against the Orioles. First pitch for the Memorial Day matinee is set for 1:35 p.m ET.
Thumbnail photo via Dan Hamilton/USA TODAY Sports Images
