BOSTON – Aaron Sanchez allowed two hits in seven innings of one-run ball, and Jose Bautista drove in two runs with a solo homer and a double to lead the Toronto Blue Jays over the Boston Red Sox 5-3 Sunday.
Edwin Encarnacion added two singles and an RBI for the Blue Jays, who had lost two straight and were 1-4 against the Red Sox. Kevin Pillar had three singles and made two nice catches in centre after being dropped from leadoff to eighth in the batting order.
Travis Shaw hit a two-run homer off closer Roberto Osuna for Boston, which had won three straight.
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The teams meet in the finale of the four-game series on Monday in Boston’s annual Patriots’ Day game, which is scheduled for an 11:05 a.m. EDT start and coincides with the running of the Boston Marathon.
Sanchez (1-0) held Boston hitless until Marco Hernandez’s broken-bat single with two outs in the fifth, his first major league hit. Sanchez struck out seven and walked four.
Steven Wright (0-2) had his second good start against the Blue Jays in eight days. The knuckleballer gave up two runs and six hits in six innings, struck out six and walked none.
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After scoring just five run in the previous two days, the Blue Jays took a 2-0 lead in the first.
Bautista’s homer caromed off the left-field foul pole and rolled behind the infield, where it was picked up by third-base umpire Angel Hernandez. They followed with three straight singles, with Chris Colabello driving in a run.
Hernandez, making his major league debut, had his soft liner drop into left in the fifth when his bat shattered and went back into the new protective screen along the first-base line. He stole second, advanced on catcher Russel Martin’s throwing error and scored on Mookie Betts’ single.
Josh Donaldson’s RBI double off the Green Monster made it 3-1 in the seventh. Encarnacion had his RBI single in that inning.
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