Red Sox End A Great April 2013 With A Loss In Toronto

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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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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Grandpa Wakefield Finally Records Win No. 200, Now Get Off His Damn Lawn!

It only took Tim Wakefield nine tries to get win No. 200 but he finally accomplished the milestone tonight and it couldn't come at a better time for the Boston Red Sox.

The 45-year old knuckleballer, MLB's oldest player, went six innings as the Red Sox (86-61) snapped a five-game losing streak with a 18-6 blowout of the Toronto Blue Jays (74-74) at Fenway Park.

Coupled with Baltimore's gift of a win over Tampa Bay, Boston moved back to four games ahead of the Rays in the AL wild card race. The Yankees held serve in Seattle with another win, New York leads the AL East by four games.

Since his last win took place way back on July 24, it was an honest question to wonder if Wakefield (7-6) would ever get to 200. Everything seemed to conspire against him: bad outings, the bullpen blowing it, tough luck, etc. The fact that it happened to be one of the most vital wins of the season for a team desperately trying to cling to a playoff spot is a feather in the cap of Boston's most professional athlete.

Wakefield went six innings, allowing five earned runs on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Staked to a 10-5 lead, Boston's bats continued to come out of their recent coma as they piled up a season-high run total.

Brandon Morrow (9-11) was his typical erratic, not very good self. In 5.1 innings, he allowed seven runs (five earned) on seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

Another great sign for the Red Sox is that Dustin Pedroia (5 RBIs, 4 runs, 4 hits) broke his cold streak with one of his best games of the season. Jacoby Ellsbury (4 runs, 4 hits, 3 RBIs), Jarrod Saltalamacchia (4 RBIs, 2 runs, 2 hits), Carl Crawford (3 runs, 2 hits), Marco Scutaro (2 runs, 2 hits) and Adrian Gonzalez (2 hits) all had multiple hits which made you quickly forget that David Ortiz was a late scratch with back spasms.

Toronto was competitive in the early innings as J.P. Arencibia hit a three-run blast into the Monster in the second inning and Jose Bautista (his MLB-leading 42nd of the season) added a two-run homer off Fisk's pole in the third.

Ellsbury (27th of the season) and Pedroia (19th of the season) went back-to-back to give Boston the lead for good in the fourth at 6-5. Pedroia padded his stats with a three-run shot in the sixth.

Alfredo Aceves locked it up for Wake with a scoreless seventh and eighth.

The record figures to skip tomorrow afternoon as John Lackey ushers out the last summer like day at Fenway with what's sure to be another unforgettable start. The Jays counter with Ricky Romero, who was great last week against Boston but typically struggles for some reason against the Red Sox.

One more time, give it up for Wakefield!

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