The Red Sox will have to wait another year to try and set a record for wins in April. Boston (18-8 overall, 7-3 away) had a chance to set a new franchise mark tonight in their series opener at Toronto's (10-17 overall, 6-8 home) Rogers Centre but the Blue Jays held on for a wild 9-7 victory.
Jon Lester (6 innings, 6 runs, 5 earned runs, 6 hits, 5 strikeouts, 2 walks) had his first poor start of 2013 and predictably it cost his team. Toronto starter Brandon Morrow (5 innings, 3 earned runs, 6 hits, 7 strikeouts, 3 walks) was his usual hit or miss (literally) self.
Toronto snapped their four-game losing streak by getting a run in the first on Jose Bautista's RBI double then two runs scored in the third on Jarrod Saltalamacchia's throwing error and J.P. Arencibia (2 hits, run) made it 4-0 with an RBI double of his own.
Boston's five-game winning streak ended North of the border but it wasn't for lack of effort. David Ortiz (3rd of the season) and Mike Carp (1st as a Red Sox) had solo homers in the fourth and Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, run, walk) cut it to 4-3 in the fifth with an RBI single.
Edwin Encarnacion crushed a two-run bomb in the fifth as the Blue Jays led 6-3 but Boston went ahead for the first time thanks to Jonny Gomes' solo blast (1st as a Red Sox) in the sixth and Ortiz's three-run double in the seventh.
Boston's bullpen was one of the main reasons they had such an unexpectedly solid April but in this game, they blew it. Encarnacion provided the go-ahead run with another two-run shot-this time off Junichi Tazawa (2-1) in the seventh-and Colby Rasmus (2 hits) added an RBI single in the eighth against Joel Hanrahan (who was activated before the game but demoted from the closer role).
The Blue Jays bullpen was superior with Darren Oliver pitching a scoreless eighth (remember when he was on the Red Sox a million years ago?) and closer Casey Janssen had a 1-2-3 ninth for his seventh save of the season.
Jacoby Ellsbury got on base four times (2 hits, 2 walks, run) but he was also caught stealing third and even worse picked off second base to end the fifth inning.
Boston will look to bounce back tomorrow night (7:07 p.m., NESN) as Clay Buchholz (5-0) takes the mound against Mark Buehrle (1-1).
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