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 center 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.
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.
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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