Sox on to New York
Ready for Yankees after rout
TORONTO — To the Bronx they go, for the biggest four-game series of the year.
The Red Sox will ride in with some momentum.
No, the Toronto Blue Jays didn’t give the Red Sox a competitive series. They didn’t play big league defense. They took ridiculous swings like it was a Sunday softball game at Ryan Field in Charlestown.
But the Red Sox did what they needed to do, stomping all over the crumbling Blue Jays with a 7-1 win last night to complete a threegame sweep of the AL East’s worst team.
They still have six games left against the Jays this year.
“We definitely have a good feeling, obviously,” said Sox starter Rick Porcello, who went 62⁄ innings and
3 allowed just one run. “Being able to come in here and take three games. We’re in good position going into the series against the Yankees.”
The next series in New York takes an interesting twist given the way the two rivals have played of late.
The Yankees were swept by the Cleveland Indians after losing both games of a single-admission doubleheader yesterday. Aaron Judge, now dealing with a shoulder problem, struck out swinging wildly to end the first game, then saw his average drop to .280 by the end of the day.
The Sox were swept at Fenway Park by the Baltimore Orioles in an ugly series in which they made five errors in one game. They flew to Toronto and played somewhat better baseball, manufacturing runs with speed on the bases and doing enough from the pitcher’s mound — with a big thanks to Chris Sale — though this is far from a team playing its best baseball.
They used aggressive baserunning to take advantage of the Jays’ disinterested defense, stealing 11 bases in 11 attempts in the series.
“It’s a testament to the guys in our clubhouse,” manager John Farrell said. “They’re driven. They’re task oriented, so they don’t dwell on what’s happened previously, and we felt like we needed to do that coming off a tough series where we get swept at home.”
Porcello (9-15) got a much-needed win at Rogers Centre, where he has historically been awful, entering with a 5.43 ERA.
This time, though, he had one of his sharpest breaking balls of the season. He misfired one of them in the third inning and it hung for what seemed like days before Raffy Lopez hammered it over the right-field wall to give the Jays a 1-0 lead.
But Porcello was otherwise in control of a weak Jays team batting Jose Bautista (.205 average) third. He loaded the bases in the fourth inning but escaped that jam with a big-time strikeout of Lopez. And when he put two on with two out in the seventh, Robby Scott replaced him and struck out Ezequiel Carrera to end the threat.
Porcello struck out seven, lowering his ERA to 4.45.
Hanley Ramirez put the Sox on the board with a solo shot off lefty J.A. Happ in the fifth. It was Ramirez’ 21st homer of the season and second in two nights.
Mitch Moreland, who has quietly been on fire over the last three weeks, came off the bench and hit a two-run pinch homer in the seventh.
The Sox tacked on four more in the eighth on doubles from Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts, then a tworun single from Moreland.
Not even the silliest of baserunning mistakes could ruin the Sox’ game. They were picked off on Tuesday but still stole second base on the play (Rajai Davis knows what he’s doing) and then last night Bogaerts started to steal third, then stopped, but Rafael Devers didn’t see him and stole second. Bogaerts was caught dead between second and third but the Jays threw the ball around yet again and everybody was safe.
What a game like this does for the Red Sox confidence is anyone’s guess. But they got the wins they needed against the Jays. And they have a 51⁄ game
2 lead over the Yankees heading into the Bronx.
Three days after playing uninspiring baseball on their home field, the Red Sox are once again in control.
“It seems like there are a lot of things in baseball that are hard to explain sometimes,” Porcello said. “It’s just kind of the way it’s been this year, I guess.”