Boston Red Sox defeat Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 – MLB Update
Boston Red Sox won their seventh game in row on Friday, 10 June, after beating the Toronto Blue Jays by 5-1 at Rogers Centre, Toronto.
Clay Buchholz went for seven strong innings in the otherwise fatigued Red Sox line-up, allowing only one run to defeat Jo-Jo Reyes and the entire Blue Jays’ offence.
The game posed to be quite a challenge due largely to the tiring schedule of the Red Sox and the late-night game they played only 20 hours ago against the New York Yankees.
"I think everybody's tired, I know I was, but I thought it was a workmanlike night," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "We've got to show up tomorrow after a quick turnaround and play good again."
Agreeing with his team manager’s take, Buchholz said, "Once you step between the lines everything usually just stops for you and you can run on some adrenaline, especially at this level," he said. "So that's what I went out there doing."
Reyes formally began the game on Friday, pitching a scoreless inning followed by Buchholz who exuded sheer confidence, instead of being visibly worn-out after playing games in an uninterrupted sequence and winning six in row.
Buchholz was effective enough in his spell, disallowing the Blue Jays’ hitters to settle. While the starting pitcher of the Red Sox was putting in a brilliant performance, the offence finally started their run-scoring campaign.
Dustin Pedroia was first to score in the third inning by hitting Reyes’ pitch. Adrian Gonzalez came forward with quick succession, grounding into a double play to increase the score for the Red Sox and tightening the noose around the Blue Jays.
The only run that Buchholz allowed came in the fourth inning as Juan Rivera hit a sacrifice fly to centre, bringing the Red Sox lead down to 2-1. However, the Red Sox offence seemed prepared to answer back.
Both Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis scored a singled each in the fifth inning with respective hits on Reyes’ pitches, compounding Toronto’s woes and strengthening the grip of the Red Sox on the game.
Once the lead shot up to 4-1, there was little Toronto’s hitters could do in the face of an aggressive Buchholz who went ahead with his shut-out innings.
Gonzalez earned his second and the team’s fifth run in the ninth inning to take the lead up. The lead was sufficient enough for Jonathan Papelbon to pitch a shu-tout ninth inning against Toronto to win the game 5-1.
Tags: