Beantown Beatdown: Red Sox batter Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays were hoping to close out their homestand with a win Sunday to restore some optimism as they embark on the second half of the season.

Instead, a blowout loss to the division-leading Boston Red Sox made their last-place hole even deeper.

Mookie Betts hit two homers and drove in eight runs as the Red Sox crushed the Blue Jays 15-1 to complete a three-game sweep. Betts had four of Boston’s 21 hits – including a threerun shot in the fourth inning and a two-run blast in the sixth – and scored three times.

He helped turn the game into a laugher with a two-run single in Boston’s eight-run seventh inning.

“When you get to the plate, you’re just expecting a good pitch to hit and you’re ready for it,” Betts said. “Today I was just more ready than other days.”

The American League East leaders have won four in a row and six of their last seven games. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, fell 9½ games behind Boston and wrapped up the homestand with a 1-5 mark.

Toronto (37-44) has dropped four in a row and eight of 10 overall.

“When you’re in the middle of it, it’s never fun,” said Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin. “But you’re one win away from believing that it’s going to come back.”

Toronto’s bats have gone silent of late and the timing is less than ideal.

The Blue Jays entered the homestand with optimism that they were close to being in the mix with the contenders in the East. Instead they’ll head to New York for a three-game series starting Monday in desperate need of victories.

“I’ve got a ton of confidence in them,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said of his players. “It’s just sometimes this game can knock you pretty good.”

July is make-or-break time for bubble teams and the Blue Jays’ brass may start shifting focus from the present to the future if the losing continues. Only Detroit, Chicago and Oakland were below Toronto in the American League standings entering Sunday’s games.