Jays offence explodes for win

An overworked Blue Jays bullpen is going to collectively savour its four days off at the allstar break, beginning Monday.

For the third game in a row, a Jays starter was unable to complete four innings, but on Friday the offence was able to overcome some issues and come from behind to take a lead, then hang on for a 13-7 victory at Fenway Park to end a six-game losing streak vs. the Red Sox.

On a redemption night for the batting order, led by two homers off the bat of Justin Smoak and four hits by Kevin Pillar, the true sense of relief for the Jays was provided by the sextet of Jake Petricka, Aaron Loup, John Axford, Seunghwan Oh, Tim Mayza and Tyler Clippard combining for 18 Red Sox outs and a much-needed victory for a team sitting seven games below .500 with two games until the break.

The Jays keep finding themselves in a place that a lot of bad teams do, where many nights you play just well enough to lose, especially on defence. Those familiar, frustrating deja-blew moments came early in Friday’s contest. AL MVP candidate Mookie Betts led off the game with a triple over Pillar’s head into the centre-field triangle and it was at that point the circus came to town.

With one out and J.D. Martinez at the plate, manager John Gibbons played the infield back, conceding the early run. Martinez hit a hard grounder to shortstop Lourdes Gurriel Jr. The rookie charged and threw a one-hopper to the plate well ahead of Betts. Catcher Russell Martin wasn’t expecting the throw, trying to one hand the hop while fading away. The ball caromed to the backstop and the Red Sox had the lead. Martin was surprised the throw came home, but you still have to make the play or at least keep the ball in front of you.

In the end, though, the Jays put together more than enough runs to make up for it.

Before the game, right-hander Marco Estrada was placed on the DL retroactive to July 10, using the maximum three days that a stint can be backdated. Estrada, in his previous outing on July 3 vs. the Mets, recorded just one out before leaving the game in Atlanta with a glute strain. He is eligible to return next Saturday. The Jays also added Dwight Smith Jr. replacing Teoscar Hernandez, down with a heel injury.