Red Sox to celebrate Ortiz during final weekend

He hit a grand slam and Edwin Encarnacion added two home runs on Sunday as Toronto dropped the rubber match of their three-game series to Boston 11-8. Clay Buchholz (6-10) threw just three innings, giving up six runs before making way for the Red Sox (80-62) bullpen.

Boston tied it at 6 and chased Sanchez on a two-out, two-run single by Bogaerts in the fourth, but Toronto answered with Encarnacion’s second homer in the bottom half.

Years ago, in the middle of September, I was starting my job as a high school teacher and was asked if I wanted to go to Toronto to see the Red Sox play the Blue Jays.

In what has been a mostly unpredictable season, Ortiz offered a predictable swing in the sixth inning, when the Sox had already blown two early leads and were facing an 8-7 deficit. Betts easily strolled into second base with a double and Ortiz hustled around the bases to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.

Blue Jays: C Russell Martin returned after leaving Wednesday’s game and sitting out Friday with a sore left knee.

Detroit fell two games behind the wild cards.

Jackie Bradley Jr., David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez all hit home runs as Boston’s big bats dominated the game.

He then walked Russell Martin on four pitches to cut the lead to 4-2, and served up a awful pitch to Tulowitzki for his 23rd home run (and third career grand slam) to give the Jays a 6-4 lead. The sizzling Seattle Mariners, who have won five straight, are only 3.5 games out, as are the Houston Astros.

Jason Grilli (6-5) got the win and Jose Bautista hit a two-run shot for the Blue Jays (79-64), who have had a rough go of things this month. He struck out four and walked none while throwing 71 of 108 pitches for strikes. Each was tagged for six runs and left the game to their respective bullpens.

Pedroia has at least one hit in 27 consecutive games against Toronto, the longest streak by any Blue Jays opponent. Holt walked with two out and took third on an errant pickoff attempt.

The Sox offense got right back to work though.

It’s that time of year again, when the Red Sox can find themselves in a hole after blowing two early leads in the biggest game of the season to date and know it just might be OK because David Ortiz will be up soon.

Ortiz hit the homer against reliever Joaquin Benoit.

With his 535th career home run, Ortiz moved past Jimmie Foxx into sole possession of 18th place on baseball’s career list. Ortiz is now one behind Mickey Mantle for 17th. They are now 22-1 when scoring eight or more runs.

Colorado’s Mark Reynolds homered leading off the 10th inning to give the Rockies a 3-2 win at San Diego, salvaging a split of the four-game series.

Joe Mauer’s walk-off single in the 12th inning edged the Minnesota Twins to a 2-1 win over the Cleveland Indians and Whit Merrifield hit the go-ahead double in the seventh inning as the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Chicago White Sox 6-5.

Pittsburgh’s Ryan Vogelsong (3-5) was charged with six runs and seven hits in four innings.

First base umpire Jim Joyce was loudly booed in the bottom of the ninth after he reversed a call on the field, deciding that a double by Martin was actually foul before seeing a video replay.

But with the AL East quickly reclaiming its reputation as the toughest and tightest division in baseball, the battle for first place might not be decided until Boston’s final series of the season, when they host the Blue Jays. Craig Kimbrel, the ninth Boston pitcher, worked the ninth for his 25th save.

The victory cuts Boston’s lead atop the AL East to just one game and also ended the Red Sox’s three game win streak.

During his last at-bat on Sunday, in the eighth inning, with Devon Travis at first after a one-out single and the Blue Jays trailing by three, Donaldson strode into the batter’s box for a moment he is custom-made for. Red Sox betting matchup at Fenway Park.