Blue Jays’ Russell Martin (knee) sitting out on Friday

The basic message was this: if you want to make the playoffs you’re going to have to fight your way out of your division. Pitcher Rick Porcello is a leading contender for the AL Cy Young Award.

This weekend, the Toronto Blue Jays will host blood rivals the Boston Red Sox with first place in the American League East on the line.

The Red Sox went ahead 2-1 when Shaw crushed Cosart’s 93 miles per hour fastball 425 feet for a two-run homer. According to Red Sox manager John Farrell, there is just one last hurdle to overcome. Price has now won his last six starts, a season high for consecutive wins, and with a tighter than a sardine tin of teams jockeying for the division title as the home stretch toward October beckons, it’s the flawless time for Price to be consistently dominant. His ERA against Toronto this season is 5.21 for the season and is 5.68 at the Rogers Centre.

Meanwhile, those same Blue Jays have a slightly lighter load to carry, as they get to make a mid-month spin versus the Rays before going west to face the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners. He is 2-5 with a 6.86 ERA in eight career games, including seven starts, at Rogers Centre. If the Blue Jays succeed, their recent struggles will just be a minor blip on the way to clinching the division for the second straight season. He is 1-2 in four starts with the Padres this year.

If you’re a Red Sox fan, that is something to hang you’re hat on.

Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion have had great success against Porcello.

Ramirez has a total of 21 home runs, 90 RBI and 27 doubles this season.

Hanley Ramirez, Dustin Pedroia, and Jackie Bradley Jr have all had decent success against Estrada in a small sample size. Xander Bogaerts has put up 169 hits with 99 runs and 79 RBI so far. Lastly, David Ortiz in 17 at bats is hitting just.174, but he does have two home runs. Toronto has dropped five of their last six games. Things seemed impossibly easy for them during a 43-18 finish to the season, when they erased an eight-game deficit in the standings over a couple of weeks, and took the lead for good August 23.

Martin said the left knee has been bothering him for a while, even during his hot-hitting surge.

All signs point to Andrew Benintendi rejoining the team at the some point next week when the Red Sox have a week long homestand.

Martin buckled during an at-bat in the seventh but continued to play defence, throwing out Chase Headley trying to steal second in the eighth. He was fitted for a knee brace and began doing baseball activities. The Red Sox have been playing both Chris Young and Brock Holt in left field during his absence.

The Red Sox took a one-game lead over the Blue Jays.

With the victory, the Red Sox moved into sole possession of first place, as the Blue Jays lost to the Yankees, 2-0, and were swept in a three-game series. The only team that is truly out of the race is Tampa Bay, a team that’s talented enough to play a strong spoiler role down the stretch due to its solid pitching.

The divisional gauntlet can either help or hurt the Red Sox’s playoff chances. With speculation that President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski likely wanted to hire his own manager (remember, Farrell was hired by former General Manager Ben Cherington) and Lovullo, now a Red Sox bench coach, as a perceived replacement in waiting, the belief was Farrell wouldn’t last past Memorial Day.

Henry Owens was recalled from Pawtucket to join the active roster. Toronto is fourth in the AL in runs scored, but the offense has slowed of late, and on the season, and the club has the fourth-worst batting average in the AL with runners in scoring position. He struggled with command and had more walks than strikeouts.Owens was decent in Pawtucket this season. Estrada is (8-7, 3.56 ERA, 1.105 WHIP, 8.3 K/9) on the season, but has pitched to a 6.58 ERA over his last 5 starts.