Make that four straight losses for the Boston Red Sox.
Martín Pérez dazzled in his start, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh before the Toronto Blue Jays amassed their first hit. The southpaw surrendered one earned run with five strikeouts, but it all became a distant memory.
Toronto forced extra innings after a rough eighth inning from Ryan Brasier allowed the visitors to tie things up before wining 6-2 in 10 innings.
With the loss, the Red Sox fell to 12-26, while the Blue Jays climb to 20-16.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Deflating.
Everything was going well for the Red Sox…until all of a sudden it wasn’t.
ON THE BUMP
— Pérez was brilliant on the mound, tossing 1-2-3 innings in the second, third and fifth.
The Blue Jays looked destined to tie things up at 1-1, but a horrible baserunning gaffe by Vlad Guerrero Jr. kept got him thrown at home to keep Toronto off the board.
A clean, hitless sixth had Pérez carrying a no-hitter into the seventh.
Toronto finally got to the left-hander in the seventh when Teoscar Hernandez singled to break up the no-hit bid. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled to put two men on.
Another single led to the Blue Jays’ first run to cut into Boston’s lead 2-1, ending Pérez’s night.
— Austin Brice came in for relief and hit Rowdy Tellez to load the bases. But Boston got out of the jam when Travis Shaw struck out swinging.
The right-hander returned for the eighth, but allowed the first two batters to reach by way of a double and walk. He was pulled after.
— Ryan Brasier came in and immediately ran into some trouble when he balked to move the runners to second and third.
A wild pitch brought in the tying run before Boston ended the inning.
— The ninth belonged to Matt Barnes and he struck out three Blue Jays in a scoreless frame.
— Phillips Valdez came on for the 10th and walked the leadoff batter. And with a runner beginning the inning on second, the Blue Jays quickly had two men on with nobody out.
A bobble by Michael Chavis at first allowed him only to get the out at first, allowing the runners to advance to second and third.
Valdez elected to pitch to Hernandez rather than walk him to pitch to Guerrero, who was 0-for-3 going into the 10th, and paid the ultimate price.
Hernandez sent the ball into the bullpen to give the Blue Jays their first and only lead of the night, 5-2.
Gurriel added to Toronto’s lead with an absolute moonshot to left to make it 6-2, a score it would eventually win by.
Valdez, who had been one of the best arms out of Boston’s bullpen, struggled mightily with his control, walking back-to-back batters after Gurriel’s round-tripper. But he finally got out of the inning.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Jackie Bradley Jr. got things going for Boston when he belted a solo home run to the right-field seats to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the second.
— Boston loaded the bases in the sixth and only got a run out of it due to Bradley drawing a walk to bring Christian Vazquez home for the 2-0 edge.
— The Red Sox put the game-winning run on in the ninth when Bobby Dalbec walked to lead off the inning. The rookie was replaced by Tzu-Wei Lin to pinch run.
Rafael Devers walked to put two on with two outs to bring Xander Bogaerts to the dish, but he flied out to send the game to extras.
— Boston had two men on in the 10th with Bradley at the plate, one out and down four. But he struck out for out No. 2 before Chavis went down swinging to end the game.
— J.D. Martinez led the way for Boston with three hits. Vazquez and Dalbec went hitless.
TWEET OF THE GAME
At least the sunset was pretty.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox play two games against the Blue Jays on Friday. Game 1 of the doubleheader begins at 4:10 p.m. ET, while Game 2 is slated for 7:10 p.m.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
