The Red Sox on Thursday were unable to earn a series split against the Blue Jays, falling 1-0 in the final contest of the four-game set between the American League East rivals.
Boston dropped to 8-12 with the loss at Rogers Centre, while Toronto improved to 13-7.
You can check out the full box score here.
ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
After Boston collected 13 hits and four late-inning runs in Wednesday night’s win, Red Sox fans might have expected the club to carry the momentum into the matinee matchup.
Unfortunately for Alex Cora’s team, that was not the case.
The visitors only mustered up four hits in the series finale against the Blue Jays, and they only came close to doing damage to the scoreboard twice. Raimel Tapia needed to leap into the right-field wall to snare a Christian Vázquez deep fly in the sixth, and the Sox squandered their only leadoff hit of the game in the seventh.
The frustration for Boston was compounded by a great collective outing from the Red Sox pitching staff. Five Boston relief pitchers combined to throw five shutout innings after Garrett Whitlock surrendered one unearned over three innings.
STARS OF THE GAME
–Alek Manoah was sensational in his fourth start of the season. Red Sox hitters had no answers for the 6-foot-6 right-hander, who only allowed three hits while striking out seven over seven innings. The 92-pitch outing marked the first time Manoah worked beyond the sixth frame this year.
— Kiké Hernández and Matt Chapman were the only players on either side to record an extra-base hit. Boston’s center fielder floated a lead-off double in the seventh inning, while the Blue Jays third baseman smacked a two-out two-bagger in the fifth.
— The Red Sox might have found something in John Schreiber, who tossed a hitless inning in his season debut Wednesday. The 28-year-old was called on again Thursday and only allowed one hit over 1 1/3 scoreless frames.
WAGER WATCH
Blue Jays runline bettors experienced a bit of a bad beat. Toronto winning by multiple runs would have paid out on a +150 price, but the Jays’ offense was only a tick better than Boston’s.
ON DECK AT NESN
Boston heads to Baltimore for the final series of its current road trip. NESN will provide complete coverage of the Red Sox-Orioles series opener at Camden Yards beginning at 6 p.m. ET.
