Jon Lester was strong for 8 innings and J.D. Drew hit 2 home runs and the Boston Red Sox took advantage of three errors as they beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 in front of 22, 817 at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Thursday night.
The win gave the Red Sox (69-51) 3-game sweep of the Jays and keeps them one game ahead of the Texas Rangers in the wild card standings as they also won 11-1 over the Minnesota Twins. The Red Sox also picked up a ½ game on their idle weekend opponent the New York Yankees and are now 6.5 games out of first.
Lester allowed two hits and the only run of the night in the 1st inning. After that he settled down and while not completely dominant, he was pretty dang good in picking up his 10th win of the season. He went 8 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5.
Fernando Cabrera finished it off in the 9th for the Red Sox with a walk and a strikeout.
Brett Cecil had a rough go of things on the mound and hurt himself with a throwing error. He went 4 1/3 innings, giving up 6 runs (4 earned) on 6 hits and 3 walks with two strikeouts.
Brian Tallet allowed a hit over 1 2/3 innings while Shawn Camp gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk with 3 strikeouts. Jesse Carlson struck out one in an inning of work.
Drew was perfect at the plate as he was 4-for-4 with the 2 home runs and 3 RBIs. Victor Martinez had one hit on the night, a home run. Jacoby Ellsbury added 2 hits while Dustin Pedroia returned to the lineup after the birth of his son with a hit and a RBI. Mike Lowell had a hit and a RBI while David Ortiz drove in a run as well.
The Red Sox now head home with some momentum for a big weekend matchup with their hated rivals to the south, the New York Yankees. It will be Andy Pettitte for the Yankees on the mound and he’ll be opposed by Brad Penny.
It should be a great weekend of baseball at Fenway Park and it will also mark the return of Jerry Remy to the NESN booth tomorrow night as well. That’s one thing I think we are all looking forward to.
