Valencia homers as Blue Jays beat Red Sox 5-2
Loss snaps Red Sox winning streak
Pinch-hitter Danny Valencia had a go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh inning, leading the Toronto Blue Jays over the Boston Red Sox 5-2 Wednesday night.
Jose Bautista homered for the second straight night, a two-run drive in the first that helped the Blue Jays improve to 7-16 in August.
With Boston leading 2-1, Edwin Encarnacion doubled off Joe Kelly starting the seventh, and left-hander Tommy Layne (0-1) relieved.
Dioner Navarro's at-bat was prolonged when catcher David Ross dropped his foul popup for an error. and Navarro singled.
Right-hander Junichi Tazawa came in, and Valencia turned on a 2-0 pitch for his first home run since Toronto acquired him from Kansas City on July 28. Eight of 20 home runs off Tazawa in his big league career have been hit by Blue Jays batters.
Kevin Pillar followed with a double, was sacrificed to third and made it 5-1 when he scored ahead of shortstop Brock Holt on Jose Reyes' fielder's-choice grounder.
Marcus Stroman (8-5) allowed two runs - one earned - and five hits in 7 2-3 innings. He had been 0-3 in four starts since winning at Boston on July 29.
Brett Cecil relieved after Dustin Pedroia's two-out single in the eighth and retired David Ortiz on a groundout and finished fifth save in seven chances.
Ortiz, who returned to the lineup after sitting out the previous two games with a sore right foot, gave the Red Sox their first hit with a one-out single in the fourth.
Ross reached on a fielding error by third baseman Juan Francisco in the sixth, and back-to-back singles by Holt and Pedroia loaded the bases for Ortiz, who lined an RBI single to right. One pitch later, Holt scored on a wild pitch, but Stroman retired Mike Napoli on a groundout and struck out Daniel Nava.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Red Sox: SS Xander Bogaerts has passed baseball's mandatory concussion tests and been cleared to rejoin the team in Tampa Bay on Saturday. Bogaerts sustained a concussion when he was hit on the helmet by a pitch from Seattle's Felix Hernandez last Friday.
Blue Jays: OF Colby Rasmus (illness) missed his second straight game. RHP Brandon Morrow (right index finger) struck out one in one scoreless inning for Class-A Dunedin, his first injury rehabilitation game.
UP NEXT
Red Sox: Boston is off Thursday before a four-game series at Tampa Bay starting Friday. The Red Sox have not announced a starter to face Rays RHP Chris Archer (8-6), who is 0-1 with a 4.32 ERA in three starts against Boston this season.
Blue Jays: Toronto is off Thursday before a three-game series against the New York Yankees. In the opener, LHP Chris Capuano (1-3) faces Blue Jays LHP Mark Buehrle (11-8), who ix 1-7 with a 4.74 ERA in 14 starts since June 1.