A fielder’s-choice grounder by George Springer in the 10th inning brought home the winning run as the visiting Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 6-5 on Thursday to sweep a three-game series.
Toronto left two runners aboard in both the eighth and ninth before scratching out a run in the 10th. Cavan Biggio, who began the 10th at second base, took third on a groundout, then came home on Springer’s grounder to shortstop Xander Bogaerts, evading the tag of catcher Kevin Plawecki.
Danny Jansen went 3-for-5, homered and scored twice for Toronto, while Bo Bichette, Matt Chapman and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had two hits apiece. Bichette and Guerrero each knocked in two runs.
Jordan Romano (5-3) pitched two shutout innings to lift Toronto to its seventh win in eight games.
Reece McGuire went 3-for-4 to lead the Boston offense. Bobby Dalbec drove in two, while Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez, Christian Arroyo and Bogaerts had two hits apiece. John Schreiber (3-3) took the loss.
Boston went 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position and left 12 on base.
The Red Sox failed to drive home McGuire after he led off the eighth with a triple. In the ninth, Martinez lined a first-pitch single to center and Bogaerts doubled to left before Franchy Cordero struck out and Enrique Hernandez grounded into a double play.
Boston rookie starter Kutter Crawford allowed four runs on 10 hits and two walks while striking out five in 4 2/3 innings.
Toronto did first-inning damage with two outs, taking a lead on Bichette’s two-run double that kicked around deep in the right field corner.
The hosts got the second started with back-to-back singles by Bogaerts and Arroyo. With one out, Arroyo stole second base to put two in scoring position before McGuire lined an RBI single to right. Dalbec’s rolling single into right tied the game.
The Red Sox jumped on top 3-2 before Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman recorded an out in the third. Tommy Pham lined a single to left before scoring from first as Devers roped a line double down the right field line.
In the fourth, Guerrero’s two-out, two-run single gave Toronto another lead, but singles by Rob Refsnyder and McGuire set up Dalbec for a game-tying sacrifice fly for Boston in the bottom of the frame.
Jansen’s one-out homer to left flipped the score in the Jays’ favor again two innings later.
Dalbec reached on a two-base error to extend Boston’s half of the sixth, setting up Jarren Duran for a game-tying, two-out double over the head of left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
After allowing just four earned runs in his first four starts against the Red Sox this season, Gausman was charged with four runs on nine hits across a five-inning outing. He struck out six without issuing a walk.
–Field Level Media
