Red Sox launch six homers in rout of Jays
BUFFALO — Hunter Renfroe hit a grand slam, Kiké Hernández drove in three runs with two homers and the Boston Red Sox snapped a two-game losing streak with a 13-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.
Rookie Jarren Duran hit his first major league homer, Dylan Santana and Rafael Devers also went yard, and J.D. Martinez broke out of a slump with four hits as the Red Sox opened the three-game series by improving their AL-leading road record to 29-19.
Manager Alex Cora was pleased with how the Red Sox responded after he shook up the lineup coming off a 2-6 stretch.
“Where we are at right now, we are not going to surprise people,” Cora said. “We are in first place in the American League East. And we have to show up every single day. Every single day. And we’ve done a great job throughout the season. But there was an it-factor today.”
Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta (8-4) allowed four runs on 11 hits and two walks while recording four strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. The Victoria product picked up his first win over the Blue Jays in five career starts.
Toronto used eight pitchers and had its five-game win streak halted. Jays starters had not allowed a run in the last four games.
The Red Sox broke loose for eight runs in the first inning, more than the six they scored in a three-game weekend series against the rival New York Yankees. They matched their scoring output from consecutive losses to the Yankees when Duran homered to the opposite field following a leadoff double from Hernández.
Not long after, Renfroe’s sixth career grand slam chased Blue
Jays starter Ross Stripling, who gave up six runs on four hits and two walks while getting only one out in his first appearance this season that didn’t extend into at least the fourth inning.
The three home runs were the most the Red Sox have hit in a single inning this season, and it was the first time in history the team has homered three times in the first inning of a road game.
“It takes a lot of pressure off a pitcher in that situation,” Pivetta said. “It’s really positive stuff and it sets a tone for this series. Who we are and what we want to accomplish here.”
Hernandez homered off Anthony Kay for his second extrabase hit of the first inning. Devers led off the second with his 23rd home run. Santana hit a two-run double that made it 11-0 after two.
Santana slugged one to deep right-centre in the fourth inning and the Red Sox got their sixth home run of the game when
Hernandez recorded his sixth multi-homer game and 500th career hit in the sixth inning.
Cavan Biggio homered for the Blue Jays during a four-run rally in the fourth inning. Teoscar Hernandez, Randal Grichuk and Bo Bichette also drove in runs.
Stripling’s six earned runs matched a season-high set in a May 19 loss against the Red Sox in Dunedin, Florida, the Blue Jays’ temporary home to start the season.
Many in the season-high crowd of 12,811 at Sahlen Field favoured the Red Sox. This is the last of eight series the Blue Jays will play in Buffalo after the team received approval from the Canadian government to return to Toronto at the end of the month. They are 12-10 in the home of their Triple-A affiliate after going 10-11 at their spring training site in Dunedin. Their 43 home games are the lowest in the majors.