The Boston Red Sox and the visiting Toronto Blue Jays will each be looking to win the rubber match of a three-game series when the teams meet on Sunday afternoon.
It’s been feast or famine on offense for both teams in the series. Toronto won the opener 9-0 on Friday night, and Boston collected 18 hits in a 15-1 victory on Saturday. Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Romy Gonzalez each homered for Boston on Saturday, with Abreu going deep for the first time since May 28.
The victory ended Boston’s six-game losing streak. Entering Saturday’s game, the Red Sox had scored a total of nine runs in their last four outings.
“Obviously we needed it, but we’re not panicking,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “It’s part of the season. You’re going to win five in a row, six in a row. This is gonna happen. I think the timing of it (shortly after trading Rafael Devers) — I think people made a bigger deal than what it is. We lost a few games in (San Francisco) that we thought we should have won. We lost a few games in Anaheim (to the Angels) that we thought we should have won. Yesterday, (the Rays) kicked our butt.
“Good job by the boys. They put up good at-bats. … There were a lot of positives today. So we’ll take that and try to build off of it for tomorrow.”
The Red Sox did much of their damage against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt, who gave up nine runs (eight earned) and eight hits in two innings. He walked four.
“I gave up eight hits and I probably wouldn’t change the location on any one of them,” Bassitt said. “I have a lot of respect for Alex Cora, the Red Sox and everything they do over there. I’ve got to dive into everything. Am I being too predictable? Am I tipping (pitches)? … I don’t know how many pitches I threw, but for the most part I didn’t make many mistakes, yet the game went the way it did.”
Toronto had six hits in the loss, five of which were singles.
“Score kind of dictated a more passive approach than what we were planning to do,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “Kind of a weird one for Chris (Bassitt) and we move on to tomorrow.”
Right-hander Walker Buehler (5-5, 6.29 ERA) is scheduled to start on the mound for Boston on Sunday. Buehler struggled mightily in his last start, when he walked seven batters in four innings of a 9-5 loss to the host Los Angeles Angels. He walked four and hit two batters in the first inning of that game.
Buehler has no record and a 0.68 ERA in 13 1/3 innings over two career starts against the Blue Jays.
Lefty Eric Lauer (4-1, 2.21) is listed as Toronto’s probable pitcher. Lauer is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in two games (one start) against Boston. He pitched a combined nine innings in those two appearances.
Toronto has won six of the nine games the teams have played this season.
–Field Level Media
