Ryan Lavarnway shines as Boston Red Sox outclass Toronto Blue Jays 8-5 – MLB Update
Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-5 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario on Friday, September 14 in the opening game of their three match series.
Red Sox will take a lot of confidence from their win against the inform Blue Jays and it will be interesting to see if they can continue their good work to end the season on a bright note.
After the Blue Jays took the early 2-0 lead, Ryan Lavarnway homered to left in the fourth inning to put Red Sox on the board. Daniel Nava stole a single to shallow right in the fifth to give Red Sox a crucial 5-3 lead.
Designated hitter Mauro Gomez tripled to deep right centre and Lavarnway hit a sacrifice fly to left in the ninth to extend Boston’s lead to 8-5.
Credit should be given to the Blue Jays for putting up a solid fight but they were unable to cross the finish line.
"That was awesome," Lavarnway said of Nava's backhanded catch. "That's one of the most spectacular catches I've seen all year, especially in a tie game. I'd say that was a game-saving catch."
"Mauro is a pretty good hitter," Valentine said in a post game interview. "He's been playing a lot against left-handers, but I left him in against a right-hander there and he didn't try to do too much. He took a slider into right-center field that I thought
was caught for a second. It's a game of inches: Daniel makes the catch, Gose doesn't."
Having suffered a humiliating series defeat at the hands of New York Yankees, the Red Sox will be looking to find winning ways and that is exactly what they did on Friday evening. Starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka had an excellent time on the mound as he
gave up just three hits and four runs in over five innings.
Striking-out five batters, he created all sorts of problems for Blue Jays’ batting line-up. Relief pitcher Chris Carpenter grabbed his first win of the season and closer Andrew Bailey pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save of the year.
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