MONTREAL – Outfielder Ryan LaMarre drove in two runs with a two-out double in the top of the 10th to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in pre-season play Friday night at Olympic Stadium.
LaMarre’s hit off the wall in right-centre field scored Travis Shaw and Chris Young, which had each walked after reliever Pa McCoy got the first two hitters in the 10th to ground out.
The teams play a second exhibition game Saturday afternoon in Montreal to end the pre-season for both clubs.
The crowd of 52,682, many wanting to show Major League Baseball that Montreal is ready to get a team back after losing the Expos in 2004, saw a game with plenty of hits and some runs early, but little more as managers substituted players freely.
Toronto’s Kevin Pillar got the crowd going when he led off the first by taking a 2-1 Steven Wright pitch over the left field wall.
Then, London, Ont., native Michael Saunders led off the second with a home run to centre field.
The Red Sox got one back off starter J.A. Happ in the third when Mookie Betts doubled and, two batters later, scored on Xander Bogaerts’ ground out. Betts drove in Jackie Bradley Jr. with a single in the fifth off Joe Biajani.
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The Blue Jays wasted a chance to score in the fourth when Saunders was tagged out trying to stretch a single. Russell Martin was hit by a pitch and got to third on Justin Smoak’s double, but Ryan Goins ended the threat with a groundout.
Wright went five innings, surrendering seven hits and two earned runs but striking out eight.
A major leagues rule limits games to no more than one extra inning if it is tied after nine.
Notes: A pre-game tribute was paid to former Expos Tim Raines, Pedro Martinez, Ellis Valentine, Marquis Grissom, Vladimir Guerrero and Jose Vidro. . . In previous pre-season sets in Montreal, the Blue Jays swept two games from the New York Mets in 2014 and split a pair last year with the Cincinnati Reds.
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