Jose Berrios tossed seven scoreless innings to lead the visiting Toronto Blue Jays to a 9-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.
Berrios (4-3) limited Boston to four hits, struck out eight and walked one in the opener of a three-game series.
Toronto’s victory extended Boston’s losing streak to six games. It also ended Boston’s five-game home winning streak. The Red Sox have scored four runs in their last three games.
Andres Gimenez had three hits and three RBIs as part of Toronto’s 16-hit attack. The Blue Jays, who drew eight walks, also received three hits and two RBIs from George Springer.
Boston starting pitcher Brayan Bello (3-3) exited the mound after six innings. He gave up three runs on eight hits and three walks with one strikeout. The Blue Jays added two runs in the seventh and four in the eighth.
The Red Sox were without rookie Marcelo Mayer, who was placed on the bereavement list Friday. Boston recalled Nick Sogard from Triple-A Worcester and he started in place of Mayer at third base.
Vladimir Guerrero was in Toronto’s lineup despite leaving Thursday’s 6-0 victory over Cleveland in the third inning after he was hit by a pitch. He collected two hits and scored three runs during Friday’s win.
Guerrero had a two-out single in the first and scored on Springer’s single later in the inning for a 1-0 lead.
Toronto doubled its lead in the second on Bo Bichette’s RBI single that drove in Ernie Clement, and it was 3-0 after Clement’s two-out single scored Springer in the third.
In the seventh, Addison Barger scored on Alejandro Kirk’s double to extend the lead to 4-0 before Gimenez drew a bases-loaded walk, scoring Guerrero to stretch Toronto’s advantage to 5-0.
Toronto’s four-run eighth featured an RBI single by Springer, a sacrifice fly by Myles Straw and a two-run single by Gimenez.
The Blue Jays are 6-2 against the Red Sox this season.
–Field Level Media
