, who own the major league's best record and have won 12 of their last 13 games.Boston All-Star Mookie Betts went 0 for 3, lowering his major league-leading batting average to .359, and fellow-All Star J. D. Martinez enters the break with 29 homers and an MLB best 80 RBIs.Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run homer for the Blue Jays (43-52). Toronto's dropped seven of 10 and fell to 3-10 against the Red Sox this season.Brandon Workman (2-0), the first of five relievers, struck out the only batter he faced in the fifth after starter Brian Johnson was pulled with the score tied.All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel got the final three outs for his 30th save, his eighth straight season with 30 or more. Johnson gave up two runs in 4 2/3 innings.Jackie Bradley Jr.'s RBI double against Marcus Stroman (2-7) pushed Boston ahead 3-2 in the fifth, and he scored on Bogaerts run-scoring grounder off Stroman's foot.Holt's second RBI single made it 5-2 an inning later.Bogaerts, whose 10th-inning slam on Saturday gave Boston a 6-2 win, homered on the third pitch he saw, sending it completely out of Fenway Park over the Green Monster for his 16th of the season in the first. Holt's RBI single made it 2-0 in the inning.Hernandez's shot went over the Monster in the third.Stroman gave up four runs, three earned, on five hits in five innings.SPECIAL TIMESGoing to the All-Star game will have special meaning for Kimbrel, who is planning to take his 8-month-old daughter and his wife, Ashley, on the trip to Washington D. C.''Yeah, it is,'' said Kimbrel of his seventh All-Star selection in the clubhouse Sunday morning. ''It's been a busy day trying to get everything ready.'' Kimbrel's daughter, Lydia Joy, had two open-heart surgeries shortly after her birth, the second causing him to miss most of spring training.First-timer Mitch Moreland has a different reason with his 5-year-old son, Crue.''I think the biggest thing over the years is watching the Home Run Derby, the guys having their kids with them out on the field,'' he said. ''I'm looking forward to doing that with my son, my oldest, and I think he's looking forward to that, too.'' Lefty ace Chris Sale rounds out Boston's five All Stars.TRAINER'S ROOMBlue Jays: Placed CF Kevin Pillar on the 10-day disabled list with a sternoclavicular joint injury suffered making a diving catch and rolling over Saturday. . INF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was also placed on the 7-day concussion DL after sliding headfirst into first and colliding with Boston pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez's leg.Red Sox: DH Steve Pearce did some early-morning running on the field and was back in the lineup after missing two games with a bruised left shin from getting hit by a pitch on Thursday. . Rodriguez went on the 10-day DL with a sprained right ankle, opening a spot for Johnson, who was activated after a stint on the DL with left hip inflammation.UP NEXTBlue Jays: Open their post-break schedule with the first of three at home against Baltimore on Friday.Red Sox: Begin a three-game series in Detroit on Friday.)
Red Sox hope to enter break with another win 7h ago• 3 min read BOSTON -- Brian Johnson comes off the disabled list to get his latest shot at being Boston's No. 5 starter when he pitches for the Red Sox in Sunday's series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays in the final game for both teams before the All-Star break.With Drew Pomeranz and Steven Wright injured, Johnson, who had been working in the bullpen but is a career starter, got his chance and made two starts as June turned into July. After the second one, he suffered hip inflammation and he too went on the disabled list.Now he gets another chance as the Red Sox, coming off Saturday's dramatic 6-2 victory over the Jays, look for their record 67th win before the break and 12th win in 13 games after Xander Bogaerts hit a game-winning grand slam in the 10th inning.Johnson, 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA in four games (two starts) against Toronto, will face Marcus Stroman, who was supposed to be the ace of the Toronto staff but is currently trying to salvage what he can from what started to be a lost season.At one point, Stroman was 0-5 with a 6.80 ERA (and a long stretch on the disabled list). But he has pitched well in two of his last three starts to get the ERA down to 5.90.The diminutive right-hander is 4-2 with a 4.19 ERA in 10 career starts against the Red Sox and 1-1 with a 3.26 in three games at Fenway Park.The Red Sox trailed 2-1 entering the bottom of the ninth, then tied it and won it before Bogaerts hit the first walk-off grand slam in extra innings since Hall of Famer Jim Rice on July 4, 1984, against the Oakland Athletics."A walk-off homer is different, a walk-off grand slam even more," Bogaerts said. "Running the bases, I didn't even remember I hit a homer, to be honest."I hit it real good, but I didn't expect for it to go out. But I knew I did hit it good and I knew it was at least a sac fly and we would have won." The Jays started Sam Gaviglio on two days' rest Saturday and had a one-run lead entering the ninth. Tyler Clippard quickly gave up the lead but pitched out of further trouble before Chris Rowley lost it in the 10th in his first game since being called up."Hey, I'm proud of our guys, man. We battled," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "I mean, naturally disappointing. You work so hard to get to that ninth inning and then back-to-back doubles. But Clip was in a jam and then he got out of it."The one time we finally get (Mookie) Betts out, we don't make the play. But gutted it out, great job, really by all of them. Gaviglio giving us the start on short rest. Yeah, it's tough, but we really couldn't mount much offense either. We get to their guys late. They're pretty tough." Toronto's Kevin Pillar left the game early after making a spectacular catch he turned into a double play but left the game with what was called a sternum injury."He's at the hospital getting checked out right now," Gibbons said.Mitch Moreland, who was unavailable for Boston (back), is 5-for-9 (.555), former Jay Steve Pearce 4-for-7 (.571) and Bogaerts, who doubled and scored the tying run in the ninth inning before delivering Boston's first walk-off grand slam since 2000 (Rico Brogna), is 10-for-26 (.385) with a homer off Stroman.Pearce has missed two games with a shin contusion but was on deck to pinch hit late in Saturday's game.While Pomeranz and Wright remain out, 11-game winner Eduardo Rodriguez went down with an ankle sprain Saturday."It looks bad (visually). (But) he was moving around," Boston manager Alex Cora said.
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