Red Sox use 8-run first to beat Jays

“I just try to go out there and throw up zeroes and hold them down as much as you can, give our offence a chance”.

Amusing thing, though. It didn’t start out too badly for the 24-year-old. Then Betts singled to left. Brock Holt and Bogaerts each had four hits out of the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively.

That is when it went sideways.

– Can Xander Bogaerts book his flight to Cincinnati yet?

Brock Holt successfully pulled off a delayed steal of third in the fourth inning with righty Bo Schultz on the mound and David Ortiz at the plate. Grand slam to left field.

Cubs 6, Mets 1: Jonathan Herrera filled in neatly for Kris Bryant, driving in three runs with a squeeze bunt and home run, and visiting Chicago beat New York for a three-game sweep.

Starters with big leads are supposed to be in attack mode, but Wade Miley couldn’t find the strike zone, walking seven and allowing seven hits. The eight runs were the most any Red Sox team has scored in the first inning since 1994, and the first eight batters of the inning reached base until catcher Ryan Hanigan was finally retired by reliever Liam Hendriks.

“It was definitely a tough one”, said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. It was the fourth time this year that the Red Sox have hit back-to-back homers….

Wade Miley picked up his eighth victory of the season on Thursday despite allowing four runs on seven hits over his five innings of work.

De Aza hit his seventh triple of the season, tying him for the major league lead in triples with Rajai Davis of Detroit.

The Red Sox return home on Friday for three games against the surprising Houston Astros, who own the American League’s best record, as well as the most home runs (115) in the big leagues. And now this.

The 24-year-old left-hander was optioned to triple-A Buffalo after the game. As tough as it is, sometimes you’ve got to let that go.

If Boyd did quite sensibly fix to the pub across the street, he made it back to the Jays clubhouse for the post-game interviews, although he still appeared shell-shocked despite some fearless words.

“Count on me learning from this and being better from this”, Boyd said. Even if that day will have to come in Buffalo, he could have added.

“For me, I was just trying to be on top”, Smoak said. “It won’t happen again”. He faced seven hitters, and all of them scored.

David Ortiz’s first inning three run bomb to left off Matt Boyd was his 58th homer against Toronto in his career and 14th of 2015, though it was just his first blast off a lefty this season. It was the most runs allowed by Toronto in one inning this season. The boom was not in the bats this time. It was Martin’s 12th homer of the year and the fifth this season for Valencia. Rookie Devon Travis followed with another single, but Betts came up throwing and nailed Danny Valencia at the plate on a close call that was reviewed.

The bottom of the fifth inning was an interesting one for Betts and Valencia as well. This was especially painful after the Jays lost a challenge earlier in the inning to Boston when catcher Russell Martin was ruled out by the replay crew after initially being called safe at first.

He walked none but hit a batter and had a wild pitch while striking out three in a 44-pitch outing.

Koji Uehara finished for his 17th save. This may have brought some comfort to Boyd, who only had one. The Jays used all seven relievers to pick up the slack on Thursday, so along with Boyd, Todd Redmond was also demoted in order to restock the bullpen with fresh arms before the club embarks on a 10-game road trip. They took 3-of-4 from the Jays after winning 2-of-3 against the Rays and moved to within six games of the first-place Orioles and Yankees in the AL East.