Blue Jays’ 15-1 loss bad omen for July
TORONTO — Mookie Betts hit two homers and drove in eight runs as the Boston Red Sox crushed the Toronto Blue Jays, 15-1, on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.
Betts had four of Boston’s 21 hits — including a three-run 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.
The American League East-leading Red Sox (47-35) have won four in a row and six of their past seven baseball games. The last-place Blue Jays wrapped up their sixgame homestand with a 1-5 mark. Toronto (37-44) has dropped four in a row and eight of 10 overall.
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 will head to New York for a threegame series starting Monday in desperate need of victories.
July is make-or-break time for bubble teams and team brass may start shifting focus from the present to the future if the losing continues.
With the loss, Toronto fell 9½ games behind the Red Sox in the divisional race. Only Detroit, Chicago and Oakland were below the Blue Jays in the American League standings entering Sunday’s games.
Boston touched up starter Joe Biagini (2-8) for single runs in the first two innings and Tzu-Wei Lin and Deven Marrero reached on back-to-back bunts in the fourth. Betts followed by turning on a 2-0 pitch for his 14th homer this season. Betts ended Biagini’s afternoon in the sixth with a homer that just curled around the left-field foul screen.
Ramirez led off the seventh with a single and added a two-run shot — his 12th homer of the season — later in the inning as the Red Sox sent 12 batters to the plate.
Drew Pomeranz (8-4) gave up his lone run in the second inning when Justin Smoak scored on a sacrifice fly. The Boston starter worked six innings and allowed five hits and two walks while striking out three.
The game took three hours 34 minutes to play.
Before the game, the Jays got outfield prospect Eduard Pinto from Texas for veteran reliever Jason Grilli and cash considerations.