Who Needs Timely Hits? Not The Red Sox In Another Frustrating Loss, 2-1 to Blue Jays

For most of the season, the Red Sox' patchwork lineup has been better than the sum of its not that impressive parts. However, that wasn't the case tonight in Toronto (56-65 overall, 31-32 home) as Boston (72-51 overall, 33-30 away) fell 2-1 to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. The Red Sox lost the series (2-1) and as a result went 4-6 on this bumpy road trip through Houston, Kansas City and ending in Toronto. They head back to Fenway for the weekend before going away for six more games.

You might never see another game where a team has 11 hits and three walks yet they only score one run. Boston went 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and they left an alarming 12 men on base. Dustin Pedroia was 3 for 5, Daniel Nava was 3 for 4 with two doubles and a run while Ryan Lavarnway went 2 for 4. Nobody on the Red Sox could get a key hit when it mattered though and Blue Jays closer Casey Janssen pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 22nd save of the season.

For the second time in three starts, Jake Peavy (9-5) pitched very well for Boston: 6+ innings, 2 earned runs, 5 hits, 4 strikeouts and 0 walks. On the other side, Mark Buehrle (9-7) wasn't fooling anyone but he kept getting out of trouble. In seven innings, he allowed 10 hits but only one earned run with four strikeouts and two walks.

Darren Oliver allowed a two-out double to Nava in the eighth then he walked Will Middlebrooks (not an easy thing to do) but he recovered by striking out Ellsbury to end Boston's last great threat.

Ellsbury drove in the only run for the Red Sox, a fielder's choice in the fourth inning, but even that illustrated their struggles all night: it happened with one out and runners on first and third.

Brett Lawrie tied it for Toronto in the seventh with an RBI single and Mark DeRosa's sacrifice fly turned out to be the difference. Boston was 9-5 vs. Toronto after Tuesday's 11-inning win but following back-to-back crushing losses, they settled for 9-7 vs. Blue Jays with three left at Fenway September 20-22.

With Boston's loss and Tampa Bay's win, the Rays pulled to within two games in the AL East. More troubling is the fact that they are now tied in the loss column so the Red Sox have played four more games than never-say-die Tampa Bay.

Alex Rodriguez's Circus featuring the Yankees (62-58 overall, 4th in AL East) pays a visit to Fenway for three games beginning with tomorrow night's matchup of Felix Doubront (8-5) vs. Andy Pettitte (7-9). The rivalry isn't what it once was but don't tell that to the network executives since they gave it the usual primetime treatment: John Lackey (7-10) faces Hiroki Kuroda (11-7) on Saturday afternoon (4:10, Fox) then Ryan Dempster (6-8) takes on C.C. Sabathia (10-10) in Sunday Night Baseball (8, ESPN).

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Oritz Homers Twice But Doubront Has Nothing & Red Sox Fall 9-6 To Blue Jays In Series Opener

In the first game of the post-Kevin Youkilis era, the Red Sox scored some runs but Felix Doubront was a mess so they lost 9-6 to the Blue Jays in the series opener at damp Fenway Park.

Toronto (38-35, 19-20 away) scored four runs in the first and a run in the second to take a 5-2 lead. Boston (38-35, 19-21 home) tied it at five in the fourth inning but it's almost impossible to win when you allow a trio of two-run homers.

Doubront (8-4) was never himself. He gutted out six innings but it was ugly since he allowed seven runs (five earned) on a career-high 11 hits with two strikeouts and a walk.

Henderson Alvarez (4-6) left in the sixth with an elbow injury (yikes!) but he was in line for the win and the Blue Jays were able to hang on and survive an hour-and-56 minute rain delay in the top of the seventh.

Five players on Toronto had multiple hits, led by Colby Rasmus (3 hits, 3 RBIs, 2 runs). Ben Francisco (2 hits, 2 runs), Edwin Encarnacion (2 hits, RBI, run), Brett Lawrie (2 hits, run, stolen base) and Yunel Escobar (2 hits, stolen base) all had nice nights at the plate.

Dustin Pedroia was 2 for 4 with a triple, stolen base and two runs scored.

Rasmus (14th of the season) sneaked a two-run homer in the first around Pesky's pole in right field. Encarnacion had an RBI double and a run scored on Rajai Davis's groundout. It was 4-0 before most of the fans had settled into their seats.

David Ortiz (3 runs) hit a two-run homer to right center, his 19th of the season, in the bottom of the first.

Rasmus added an RBI single in the second before scored twice in the third and once in the fourth to draw even. A run came across on an error then Adrian Gonzalez had an RBI single in the third. Ryan Kalish's (2 hits, stolen base) RBI single tied it at five in the fourth.

J.P. Arencibia (10th of the season) hit a two-run bomb over the Monster off Doubront in the sixth then Jose Bautista (24th of the season) did the same in the seventh except it was against Matt Albers. Toronto led 9-5 which was more than enough.

Ortiz hit a solo homer in the eighth off Darren Oliver to center, his 11th straight season with 20+ homers (second game with two this season; 37th with the Red Sox, 39th all-time in his career) but Blue Jays closer Casey Janssen struck out the side in a clean ninth for his eighth save of the season.

Tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., NESN) promises to be anything but an instant classic as Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-2) takes on journeyman Aaron Laffey (0-0), who is making his first start of the season due to all the injuries to Toronto starters. Get your bullpens ready!

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Red Sox & Bard Flop In His First MLB Start

I'll concede that I didn't watch every pitch-since the Celtics-Heat game was way more entertaining-but from what I saw, Daniel Bard's first MLB start was nothing special.

Toronto (3-2) bounced back from a loss last night at Rogers Centre to pick up a 7-3 win over the Red Sox (1-4) this evening. It wasn't even that close either since Boston tacked on two meaningless runs in the ninth when it was 7-1.

Bard (0-1) went 5+ innings, allowing five runs (all earned) on eight hits with a walk and six strikeouts. Most of the suckup Red Sox beat reporters were raving about his pitches on Twitter during the game but it's the regular season, not March. I want results.

Blue Jays starter Kyle Drabek (1-0) was better and he earned the win. He went 5.1 innings, allowing one run (earned) on three hits with four strikeouts and three walks.

The best thing you can say about Bard's outing was that he wasn't hit hard, rather Toronto found a bunch of holes with well-placed hits that lacked much pop.

Edwin Encarnacion's infield single that plated Yunel Escobar (2 runs, 2 hits) gave Toronto a 1-0 lead in the first. The Blue Jays added two more runs in the third on Adam Lind's (2 hits) RBI single and Brett Lawrie's (2 hits) RBI single.

Besides the better pitching, the difference in the game was runners in scoring position: Boston was 2 for 12 while Toronto was 5 for 10 in that position.

Adrian Gonzalez finally got the Red Sox on the board with a sacrifice fly in the sixth that scored Jacoby Ellsbury (2 runs, 2 walks).

The Blue Jays put it away with three more runs in the sixth, on J.P. Arencebia's two-run single and a sacrifice fly by Colby Rasmus. Encarnacion greeted reliever Michael Bowden-who still sucks-with a solo homer in the seventh.

Boston has already proven in this very small sample size (five games) that their lineup never gives up, the opposite of last September. Gonzalez drove in Nick Punto and Ellsbury with an RBI double in the ninth. Dustin Pedroia (3 hits) and Gonzalez were stranded on base as David Ortiz struck out looking to end it.

Don't look now but the Red Sox would do themselves a big favor by taking the series finale tomorrow afternoon. Nevermind that they typically own Ricky Romero (4-6 in 13 career starts, 7.12 ERA, .328 OBA) but they simply cannot return to Boston 1-5 this weekend with Josh Beckett starting the home opener and four games against the Rays. That would be a recipe for disaster.

It's up to Jon Lester to pitch another gem, for a tired bullpen, and for the lineup to help him more than it did on Opening Day against Detroit.

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