Emmanuel Valdez, Triston Casas and Masataka Yoshida all drove in two runs and the Boston Red Sox maintained their winning streak to five games, sealing that deal with an 8-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.
“We’ve been doing that since Day One,” manager Alex Cora said. “Just moving the ball forward, hitting behind runners, running the bases well.”
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Nick Pivetta (2-2) went for six innings and gave up three runs, including single homers by Daulton Varsho and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who cleared the Green Monster with a shot in the third that left Fenway Park.
“They’re a really aggressive lineup,” Pivetta said. “I was able to execute my offspeed early and then use my fastball later and then flip-flop that around. I’m not just here to throw. I’m here to pitch and execute all pitches in the zone.”
Alex Manoah (1-2) allowed five runs, two earned, and eight hits in five innings.
Manoah staged Boston hitless until there were two outs in the third, but caught a rough stretch after a sharp line drive off Rafael Devers’ bat with one out in the fourth hit his right calf. Dever placed second when Alejandro Kirk fielded the carom and threw the ball into right field.
Devers moved to the third after Manoah’s pick-off effort entered into center and scored on Jarren Duran’s double. Casas’ single tied the game at 2.
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The Blue Jays took the lead in the fifth when Kevin Kiermaier led off with a double, took third on George Springer’s sacrifice fly and scored on a baulk by Pivetta.
However, the Red Sox went on to 5-3 in the bottom of the inning by scoring three unearned runs off, Manoah with two outs, plus Valdez’s two-run singles.
“I thought he was getting on a roll a little bit,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of Manoah. “It was kind of typical Alek. He was making good pitches, but we didn’t help him defensively. You can’t have four errors, throw the ball around and expect to win. I thought he was good.”
Red Sox and Blue Jays combined for six errors, including four by Toronto that caused four unearned runs.
Anthony Bass the Blue Jays reliever, replaced Manoah, he also took a line drive off himself in the sixth. Yoshida’s shot scored Connor Wong and extended Yoshida’s hitting streak to 13 games. Justin Turner’s single to center drove Bass from the game with Boston up 6-3.
Yoshida’s two-out RBI double in the seventh of Trevor Richards made it 7-3.
Boston added another run in the eighth when Casas reached a one-out single to left, took second on left fielder, Varsho’s throwing error and scored on Kiké Hernández’s single.
Kutter Crawford, a Red Sox reliever who started the eight, left with one out in the ninth, seemingly slipping on the mound. Ryan Brasier got the last two outs to seal the victory.
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