Toronto Blue Jays

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief, Digital Sports Desk

FENWAY – With the 15-game winning streak in the rearview mirror, and a flat, 6-0 no-show loss to Toronto on Saturday, today’s Sunday afternoon rubber game became the most important game of the 10-game homestand the Boston Red Sox have just concluded. Adding to the intrigue was the return of starting pitcher Ranger Suarez who was activated today after missing 15 games (two-starts) due to a strained groin.

The Red Sox performed well, as did Suarez. Yes, Boston took an impressive 6-1 victory to the airport as they depart the now-friendly confines of Fenway Park for a four-game set against the swingin’ and travelin’ A’s, then a three-game series against Los Angeles at famed Dodgers Stadium.

Put it all together and it just might show how to measure this year, – measure a year?

In daytime, (20-23),

At nightime? (34-27)

In June (12-14),

And July (17-3).

36,795 people,

Four consecutive sell-outs to cheer.

Sam Adams? The waves? The Tartan Army so dear.

Kids running bases? Sweet Carolines? And, Tarps off. No fear.

Truth be told, after an incredible 15-game winning streak, the best way to measure this season is by measuring series wins, and the 6-1 Red Sox victory over the Blue Jays made it the sixth consecutive series won – the most for the Sox since June 3-26, 2022.

Boston swept five of those series (vs. NYY, at LAA, at CWS, at NYM and home vs. Tampa Bay).

Boston is 8-2 over their last 10 series, dating back to June 19, and 9-3 over the last 12 series, dating back to June 12.

The 17-3 record in July ties the best record through 20 games to begin ANY calendar month in franchise history (also August 1995, August 1949 and June 1901).

On the scoreboard during this now completed 10-game homestand, the Red Sox outscored their opponents 53-34.

Today, the Sox faithful witnessed a very impressive comeback by Suarez, going 4.0 innings, (64 pitches, 42 strikes). He allowed only four hits, walked none and struck-out six Blue Jay batters. It was the fifth time this season he pitched a scoreless outing and it was his first start since July 5 (missing two outings and benefitting from the MLB All-Star break).

These are all signs of progress for a team that was once 17-27 at Fenway Park, playing in a building so dull, it could make former Senator and Secretary of State John Kerry the most interesting person in the crowd. Now? Fenway is not only sold out, but it’s been alive, with a vibe of confidence and cheers of encouragement not jeers from frustration.

It makes a big difference.

There’s one other important fact to note: The Red Sox, while certainly turning their season into an intriguing chess game going forward, have accomplished nothing. Yes, they are now four games over the .500 mark (54-50), and yes, they are now 25-29 at home, but they head to Sacramento (the temp home for the A’s) with a winning percentage equal to the Arizona Diamondbacks, similar to the Chicago White Sox, and two games ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In the AL Wild Card race (far too early to do too much scoreboard watching), the Red Sox have made their way to the No. 2 Wild Card slot, a game and a half ahead of the Cleveland Guardians. The Minnesota Twins and the Houston Astros are only 1.5 games under those clubs, while Seattle and Baltimore are only two games back from Cleveland.

If the Sox played in the National League, they’d be chasing the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Diamondbacks for wild card positioning.

In other words, it’s July 26th and there’s a very long way to go.

A trade of injured SP Connelly Early for mediocre-hitting infielder Curtis Mead from the Washington Nationals came with a tariff, err, modicum of uncertainty. Mead is a .254 hitter with some power (17 HRs, 17 2Bs). His bat might take to the dimensions of Fenway Park. The return of injured pitching ace Garrett Crochet would be just what the team doctor would order, and the return of face-of-the-franchise power hitter, Roman Anthony, would be a major dose of rejuvenation to a batting order thus far pieced together by interim (should be hired for the duration) Manager Chad Tracy.

Another trade, maybe a major trade at the August 3 deadline (6:00pm EDT) would make a huge difference. Colorado heavy-hitting catcher Hunter Goodman is apparently on the market, but is not a candidate to entice the Red Sox and GM Craig Breslow to take a major plunge in terms of giving up much in prospects or current roster players.

August 3 is an off-day for the Red Sox. They’ll be flying back from Los Angles after the upcoming road trip, and will face the Chicago White Sox in a three game series to start the next Fenway Park homestand.

Winning the series against the A’s is realistic. Winning the series against the defending champion LA Dodgers is not.

But winning the series in a Sox vs Sox battle at Fenway will be the next major milestone on the Red Sox “Comeback From the Dead” rock n’ roll tour of 2026.

Get your tickets now. There are Tarps to be twirled, pitchers to return and series to be won.

Or lost.

BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – Dylan Cease threw a one-hitter and George Springer hit a three-run home run as the visiting Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 6-0 Saturday. Cease (7-5), who took a no-hitter into the ninth against the San Francisco Giants on July 8, only allowed four Red Sox hitters to reach base.

The teams will play the rubber match of the series on Sunday. Boston is 11-2 in its last 13 games against the American League East and has won 16 of its last 18.

Cease was perfect until walking Caleb Durbin with two outs in the fifth and didn’t allow a hit through five innings. The complete game was the first for Toronto this season and the 12th in the majors. Seven of the complete games have been shutouts.

It was Cease’s fourth career complete game and his fourth career shutout. The right-hander walked three and struck out 12 on a career-high 120 pitches.

Boston starter Sonny Gray (12-2) gave up five runs on 10 hits in five innings. The right-hander didn’t walk anyone and struck out three on 75 pitches.

The Blue Jays took control in the third when they used six straight hits to score five runs with two outs. Nathan Lukes started the rally with a double into the left-field corner and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lined a single to left. Kazuma Okamoto kept it going by singling off the glove of third baseman Durbin and Springer made the Red Sox pay by homering just over the Green Monster in left to make it 4-0.

Varsho continued the inning with a single to center and he scored when Ernie Clement doubled off the base of the left-field wall to go up 5-0.

 

FENWAY – (Wire Service Report) – Romy Gonzalez’s pinch-hit RBI double sparked a two-run eighth inning, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 6-4 win over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night.

The shot into the left-field corner brought Jarren Duran home from first base with the go-ahead run before Anthony Seigler capped his 4-for-5 day with a wall-ball double to plate another off Toronto reliever CJ Van Eyk (0-1).

Seigler, who batted leadoff, scored two runs, drove in two more, hit a leadoff homer, and added two doubles while falling just a triple short of a cycle.

The Red Sox have won 16 of their last 17 games.

Garrett Whitlock (6-1) earned the victory in relief, and Aroldis Chapman recorded his 391st career save to take sole possession of ninth on the all-time list.

The Blue Jays clawed back from 4-0 down to tie the game. Starter Trey Yesavage struck out nine across four innings of three-run ball.

Kazuma Okamoto, who entered the night 0-for-22 since the All-Star break, went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer in the seventh. It was his 23rd, which moved him past Shohei Ohtani for the most by a Japanese rookie in a single MLB season.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Daulton Varsho also had multi-hit games for Toronto.

After Patrick Sandoval danced out of a bases-loaded jam in the first, Seigler immediately staked the Red Sox to a 1-0 lead by depositing Yesavage’s fourth pitch into the right-field stands.

The Toronto righty’s frustrating outing continued two innings later, as he fanned the side in the second before allowing another home run in the third. Seigler knocked an opposite-field single before crossing the plate on Ceddanne Rafaela’s two-run shot just over the top of the Green Monster.

Yesavage retired six of the final seven batters he faced to keep it 3-0, but the offense could not take advantage of back-to-back innings with two aboard. In the fifth, Guerrero singled and Okamoto doubled to put two Blue Jays in scoring position with one out, but Tyron Guerrero relieved Sandoval and escaped the threat.

The Red Sox added to their lead when Masataka Yoshida scored on Andruw Monasterio’s sacrifice fly in the sixth. It could have been more, but Toronto left fielder Nathan Lukes gunned out Caleb Durbin trying to score from second on Connor Wong’s single to end the inning.

In the seventh, Okamoto brought Toronto right back into the game with one big swing, taking Greg Weissert deep to center field for a three-run shot. Ernie Clement (hit by pitch) and Guerrero (single) set the table.

After Jeff Hoffman’s bases-loaded escape in the seventh, the Blue Jays manufactured the tying run off Whitlock — the first he allowed in 13 appearances — in the eighth. Lukes hit a leadoff double to left and Varsho dunked a single into right, setting up pinch hitter Andres Gimenez’s sacrifice fly.

BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – The saying goes, “All good things must come to an end.”

For the Boston Red Sox, that meant the end of a franchise-record-tying 15-game winning streak. The quest for a new streak begins on Friday night as the Toronto Blue Jays enter for the start of a three-game weekend series.

“All of us knew that it was going to end at some point. It just happened to end (on Wednesday),” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said after a 5-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in the second game of a doubleheader. “The big thing is if we continue to play baseball that way, regardless of how many wins in a row, we’re going to win a heck of a lot more than we lose.”

To say the least, it was a season-turning stretch for Tracy’s group, which went from 37-48 then to 52-49 now. Before Wednesday night, the Red Sox had not lost since July 1, and they were 20-2 since completing a four-game sweep of the archrival New York Yankees on June 28.

Before Tracy could even speak to his team at the end of the streak, veterans Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray took the lead in addressing the clubhouse, imparting a message that matched that of their skipper.

“We can beat anybody. That’s lesson No. 1,” Contreras said. “We are a good team in the battles. We are resilient and a team that sits together, winning or losing. … There’s nothing to be sad about. We have to be happy. We should be proud of what we did.”

The past few weeks have seen Contreras break out to the tune of a .381 average with 13 RBIs in 12 July games. The first baseman had three hits in the Wednesday twin bill, with the nightcap being Boston’s first game scoring fewer than two runs since June 30.

The Red Sox will give the ball on Friday to left-hander Patrick Sandoval, who remains in search of his first win in his third start since returning from a two-year absence following Tommy John surgery. Sandoval (0-0, 4.82 ERA) was touched for five runs, four earned, on nine hits in five innings against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.

Sandoval has faced the Blue Jays twice in his career, posting a 6.00 ERA and no decisions in nine innings.

The red-hot run has the Red Sox sitting in third place in the American League East, now six games ahead of the bottom-dwelling Blue Jays.

Toronto arrives in Boston having broken a four-game skid with a 3-1 Thursday afternoon win over first-place Tampa Bay. It was just the second victory for the Blue Jays in a nine-game span.

Shane Bieber dealt seven innings of one-run ball in his second consecutive strong start, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer both had two hits and an RBI.

“Today we played a complete game,” Springer said. “We pitched. We got guys on (the bases), over and in, and we caught the ball, so it was a good day for us, but it’s on to (Friday), and that’s against another extremely good team.”

Trey Yesavage (4-5, 3.78 ERA) will look to keep the Blue Jays on the right track. The 22-year-old right-hander took a loss to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday despite logging a season-high nine strikeouts over six innings of three-run ball.

Yesavage, who made his major league debut last September, has gotten his first taste of the Red Sox this season. He is 1-0 with a 2.13 ERA in two head-to-head starts, recording a home win on April 28 with 5 1/3 shutout innings before working 7 1/3 innings of three-run ball in a June 18 no-decision at Boston.

–Field Level Media

 

BOSTON – Toronto’s Dylan Cease tossed five scoreless innings and the visiting Blue Jays received home runs from Andres Gimenez, Davis Schneider and George Springer en route to a 6-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night.

Cease (4-3) limited Boston to four hits, walked four and struck out seven. He threw 108 pitches. Louis Varland recorded the final four outs and earned his 13th save.

Schneider and Gimenez hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth, then Springer drove in two in the ninth with his 300th career homer. Springer had three RBIs in the win.

Jarren Duran accounted for Boston’s run by hitting a solo home run against Tommy Nance in the eighth. Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Connor Wong each collected two hits for the Red Sox, who were 1 of 12 with runners in scoring position. Willson Contreras struck out four times.

Gimenez, who missed Sunday’s game against the New York Yankees with a sore wrist, scored the game’s first run in the third inning. He doubled, moved to third when Myles Straw hit a fly ball to right and scored on Springer’s sacrifice fly.

The home runs by Gimenez and Schneider in the fifth both came against Boston starter Payton Tolle and stretched Toronto’s lead to 3-0.

Tolle (3-4) also was pulled after five innings. He allowed three runs on four hits, walked two and struck out six.

Toronto made it 4-0 in the sixth. Kazuma Okamoto walked, took third on a Nathan Lukes single and scored when Schneider doubled.

Duran’s home run cut Toronto’s lead to 4-1 in the eighth. Boston brought the tying run to the plate, but Varland entered and struck out pinch hitter Mickey Gasper to end the inning.

The loss dropped the Red Sox’ record to 9-30 when their opponent scores first.

–Field Level Media

TORONTO – (Wire Service Report) – Trey Yesavage pitched 5 1/3 sharp innings in his season debut Tuesday night and the Toronto Blue Jays shut out the visiting Boston Red Sox 3-0. Yesavage (1-0) allowed four hits and no walks while striking three. He started the season on the injured list due to a right shoulder impingement.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had two hits and an RBI while Kazuma Okamoto had a two-run single to help the Blue Jays end Boston’s three-game winning streak.

Louis Varland struck out the side in the ninth to earn his fourth save.

Boston won the opener of the three-game series 5-0 on Monday, when Toronto was limited to two hits. The decisive match will be played Wednesday afternoon.

The Red Sox had runners at third base without scoring in each of the first two innings against Yesavage. Willson Contreras was stranded at third after his one-out double in the first. Boston left runners at first and third in the second after Trevor Story bunted for a single and Marcelo Mayer singled to right with two outs. Mayer extended his career-best hitting streak to seven games.

Toronto took a 2-0 lead against Payton Tolle (0-1) in the third. Andres Gimenez led off with a single and took third on Guerrero’s two-out double to left. Both runners scored on Okamoto’s single off the wall in left, but Okamoto was retired while trying for a double.