Music: {allcanada} Homers get to Dickey; BoSox double up Jays

Sunday, May 10, 2015

{allcanada} Homers get to Dickey; BoSox double up Jays

TORONTO - Mike Napoli and Pablo Sandoval homered as the Boston Red Sox defeated Toronto 6-3 on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre to end the Blue Jays' three-game winning streak.

Napoli hit a three-run shot in Boston's four-run first inning and Sandoval added a two-run blast in the fifth off Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey. Chris Colabello had three hits for Toronto, which fell back to the .500 mark with the loss.

Clay Buchholz worked 6 1/3 innings for the Red Sox (14-17), who picked up their second win in nine games. Koji Uehara pitched the ninth inning for his sixth save.

Dickey's knuckleball had little movement in the early going and the Red Sox took advantage. Mookie Betts led off the game with a triple and scored on a Dustin Pedroia groundout.

Hanley Ramirez and Sandoval reached later in the inning before Napoli turned on a 1-1 pitch for his third homer of the year.

Buchholz (2-4) also started off slowly but the Blue Jays couldn't inflict any damage. He walked three batters in the opening frame before escaping when Kevin Pillar hit into a forceout.

Toronto (16-16) scratched out a run in the fourth inning. Edwin Encarnacion reached on a single, moved to second on a Pillar groundout and scored when Colabello lifted a single into shallow centre field.

Buchholz appeared to be in some discomfort after closing out the frame. Red Sox manager John Farrell and a team trainer came to the mound during his warmup pitches in the fifth and the right-hander stayed in the game.

Devon Travis lashed a two-out double in the inning and scored when Josh Donaldson hit a double of his own. Jose Bautista grounded out to leave Donaldson stranded.

Dickey (1-4) allowed six earned runs, seven hits and three walks over six innings. Reliever Ryan Tepera made his major-league debut in the seventh and worked a 1-2-3 frame capped by a brilliant Donaldson pickup of a Ramirez hot shot to the left side.

Josh Thole led off the Toronto half of the inning with a double and moved to third on a Ryan Goins groundout. That ended Buchholz's afternoon — he allowed three earned runs, seven hits and three walks while striking out three.

Travis hit a slow grounder off reliever Junichi Tazawa to bring Thole home and make it a three-run game. Blue Jays reliever Brett Cecil came on in the ninth inning and issued a two-out walk to Betts before picking him off at first base.

Announced attendance was 42,419 and the game took two hours 38 minutes to play.

Notes: It was Sandoval's third homer of the season. ... For the 10th straight year, Major League Baseball dedicated all games on Mother's Day to the fight against breast cancer. Many players wore pink wristbands or undershirts while some used pink bats. ... Before the game, Toronto outfielder Michael Saunders was placed on the 15-day disabled list with left knee inflammation. Infielder Steve Tolleson's contract was selected from triple-A Buffalo and right-hander Preston Guilmet was designated for assignment. ... The Blue Jays will kick off a seven-game road trip Monday night against Baltimore. After the three-game series against the Orioles, the Blue Jays will play a four-game set at Houston. ... Carl Willis served as pitching coach for the Red Sox. He succeeds Juan Nieves, who was let go last Thursday. Willis started the year as pitching coach for triple-A Columbus.