Red Sox Wrap: Boston Bests Alek Manoah To Take Down Blue Jays

The Boston Red Sox weren’t fazed when facing another deficit against the Toronto Blue Jays and scored six unanswered runs to earn a 8-3 win Wednesday night at Fenway Park.

It is Boston’s fifth straight win to push its record to 18-14 and it is just a half game behind the Toronto Blue Jays, who stand now at 18-13, in the American League East standings.

Check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Red Sox didn’t let history repeat itself with Alek Manoah on the mound for the Blue Jays.

The talented right-handed pitcher has owned the Red Sox when going up against them, coming into the contest with a 4-0 record and a 1.46 ERA in six career starts. But that success didn’t continue.

Boston made things difficult on Manoah, getting to him for eight hits and five runs — only two of which were earned due to three Blue Jays errors, one of which Manoah committed — over five innings. Manoah never got into a groove, prohibiting him from talking the same trash he sent the Red Sox’s way last season and which Alex Verdugo responded to earlier this season. And for the first time in his career, Manoah suffered a loss to the Red Sox.

Granted, the Red Sox were aided by a lucky bounce on an infield single in the bottom of the fifth that pushed the go-ahead runs across the plate. But everything is going Boston’s way for the moment and it didn’t matter one bit that Manoah was on the hill.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Triston Casas, who entered the game with just three hits in his last 30 at-bats, broke out of his slump by coming through with some timely base hits. The rookie first baseman twice leveled the score in the middle innings with singles and finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

— Enmanuel Valdez contributed again after hitting the first home run of his Major League Baseball career in the series opener. Valdez went 2-for-5 and got the benefit of that aforementioned fortuitous bounce to drive in two runs.

— Masataka Yoshida extended his hitting streak to 13 games as he put together a 2-for-5 effort at the plate with two RBIs.

WAGER WATCH
Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta got plenty of swings and misses as he delivered a quality a start. FanDuel Sportsbook set Pivetta’s total strikeout over/under at 5.5 with +128 odds on the Over. The veteran right-hander cleared the mark with six strikeouts in his six innings of work as a $100 wager on the prop bet would have totaled $228.

ON DECK AT NESN
The Red Sox look to complete a four-game sweep of the Blue Jays on Thursday. First pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. ET and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.