 leads Red Sox to 8-3 win over Blue Jays6m ago• 3 min read BOSTON Sandy Leon hit a home run and two doubles, Xander Bogaerts also homered and Rick Porcello took a three-hitter into the seventh inning, helping the Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-3 on Tuesday night to match the second-best start in franchise history.J. D. Martinez also had two of Boston's six doubles. The Red Sox (38-17) won for the eighth time in 10 games to maintain the best record in the major leagues and their best record through 55 games since 2002. Only the 1946 Boston team that started 42-13 with Ted Williams and Bobby Doerr returning from World War II had a better start.Porcello (7-2) allowed three runs, two earned, and five hits in 6 2/3 innings. Toronto loaded the bases against Hector Velazquez in the ninth, but Craig Kimbrel got the last two outs for his 17th save.Marco Estrada (2-6) allowed four runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings, dropping his fifth straight decision since April 26. Justin Smoak homered for Toronto, which has lost 12 of its last 16 games.Boston led 5-1 after six, but Toronto cut the deficit in half in the seventh on a rally that started when Russell Martin was hit by a pitch with one out. Toronto loaded the bases before Porcello fanned Luke Maile for the second out.Curtis Granderson hit a hard grounder past a diving first baseman Martinez, but second baseman Dustin Pedroia slid to field it in shallow right. He threw to Porcello covering first, but the ball went off his glove for an error and rolled off the fence in front of the Boston dugout, allowing Morales to score and make it 5-3.Joe Kelly relieved Porcello and struck out Kevin Pillar on three pitches to end the inning.Bogaerts homered over the Green Monster in the seventh, a solo shot, and Leon hit a two-run shot in the eighth to make it 8-3.ON THE BOARDPedroia got his first hit of the season in the sixth inning, a single to right. First base coach Tom Goodwin gave him a pat on the batting helmet, his teammates applauded in the dugout and the Fenway Park crowd gave him a big cheer.The 2008 AL MVP started the season on the disabled list while he recovered from October knee surgery. He made his 2018 debut on Saturday and was 0 for 7 with two walks and a run in his first two games.BRUSHBACKSMartin was hit in the shoulder one pitch after calling time late in Porcello's set with one out and nobody on in the seventh. The Blue Jays utility man stared menacingly at the mound, and home plate umpire Vic Carapazza and Leon moved between him and the pitcher, but Porcello just shrugged.Martin took his base without further incident. But in the eighth, Kelly hit Teoscar Hernandez. And when Danny Barnes plunked Brock Holt to lead off the bottom half, there were warnings issued for both dugouts.TRAINER'S ROOMBlue Jays: 3B Josh Donaldson was out of the lineup one day after leaving the game with right calf soreness. Manager John Gibbons said he was hoping to have Donaldson back on Friday after Thursday's off day. ... SS Aledmys Diaz made a rehab appearance with Double-A New Hampshire as he tries to recover from the left ankle sprain that has kept him out since May 6.Red Sox: OF Mookie Betts, who is leading the majors in batting average, OPS and runs, got a third straight day off with tightness in his left side. He is expected to take Wednesday off, too.UP NEXTBlue Jays: RHP Sam Gaviglio (2-0, 2.30 ERA) starts Wednesday's series finale against Boston.Red Sox: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (5-1, 4.02 ERA) will face the Blue Jays in the 1:05 p.m. start.---More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
Porcello hopes to get back on track when Sox host Jays 4h ago• 3 min read BOSTON -- Rick Porcello began the season looking like the pitcher who won the 2016 American League Cy Young Award.But things have gotten tougher for the Boston Red Sox right-hander, who faces the Toronto Blue Jays and Marco Estrada in the second game of a three-game series at Fenway Park on Tuesday night.Porcello, 11-17 last season after going 22-4 in 2016, opened this season 5-0 with two no-decisions and a 2.14 ERA in his first seven starts. But in his last four outings, since winning May 4, he is 0-2 and has allowed 17 earned runs in 21 innings -- for a 7.29 ERA. His ERA over his last seven starts is 5.18 and was reached for six runs in 3 2/3 innings last time out.He faces the Jays, a team he has had trouble with through the years, for the second time this season. He pitched seven innings, gave up three runs and got a no-decision in Toronto April 24, and comes into this game 9-9 with a 4.92 ERA in 22 games, 21 starts, lifetime against the Jays.Porcello (6-2, 3.74 ERA) races Estrada, who has had a rough ride and enters this start 2-5 with a 4.70 ERA.The righty is just 4-7 with a 4.44 ERA in 16 games, 14 starts, against the Red Sox, losing to them twice already this year. But he has been better at Fenway Park, where he is 3-3 with a 4.50 in nine games, seven of them starts.The Jays (25-29, 9-17 in May) came to Boston after winning two of three over the weekend in Philadelphia, but the Red Sox, losers to the Atlanta Braves Sunday, made it 3-1 on their six-game homestand with an 8-3 handling of the Jays on Monday."They've got a tough lineup, they always have," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "It's tough to shut 'em down." The victory raised Boston's lead over the New York Yankees atop the American League East to two games -- the Red Sox now an MLB-best 37-17 on the season.Both teams could be missing a key part in Tuesday night's game. Toronto's Josh Donaldson left Monday's game and joined Toronto's ever-growing injury list with left calf tightness, while Boston's Mookie Betts missed his second straight with left side tightness.Asked before Monday's game about Betts, manager Alex Cora said, "We do feel that probably tomorrow might be a day that he will come back. I would prefer to stay away from him for two days if everything is going this way. There's no need to push him. It makes no sense." Donaldson compared his calf cramps to something that caused him to miss time during spring training and said he didn't think it was anything serious and he will see how he feels Tuesday -- though he may well be rested. He did miss six weeks with a calf strain last season.He was 1-for-1 with two walks Monday."It's a little sore right now, still a little tight," he said. "We're going to do some treatment and stuff on it and see, just kind of play it by ear, see how it responds." The third baseman is 12-for-39 (.308) lifetime against Porcello, while other Jays have struggled against the veteran. Russell Martin is 4-for-32 (.125) with a homer, while Kendrys Morales is 8-for-39 (.205) with two homers and Devon Travis is 4-for-18 (.222).Dustin Pedroia, who played his first two games of the season over the weekend before resting Monday and still looking for his first 2018 hit, is 14-for-31 (.452) and the sizzling Andrew Benintendi 6-for-18 (.333) lifetime against Estrada. But Brock Holt is 2-for-17 (.118), Christian Vazquez 2-for-15 (.133), Betts and Xander Bogaerts both 4-for-29 (.138), Eduardo Nunez 2-for-14 (.143), Jackie Bradley Jr., 3-for-18 (.167) with a homer and Mitch Moreland 4-for-21 (.190) with a homer off the Toronto pitcher.Benintendi, a double shy of the cycle Sunday, is on first. In his last 21 games, he has batted .366 (30-for-82) with a .438 on-base percentage and .720 slugging and has six homers, five doubles, three triples and 22 RBIs.This is the fifth time in Red Sox history -- the first since 2007 -- that they've won 37 of their first 54 games.
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