Toronto @ Boston preview
Fenway Park
Last Meeting ( Sep 17, 2010 ) Toronto 11, Boston 9
Friday night could have been the last straw for the slim playoff hopes of the Boston Red Sox.
While the Red Sox were getting hammered at Fenway Park by the Toronto Blue Jays, the New York Yankees rallied for three runs with two outs in the ninth inning to defeat the Baltimore Orioles. That combination left Boston 6 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the race for the wild card and seven games behind the AL East-leading Yankees with just 17 contests to play.
Boston can't afford any more setbacks as it hosts the Blue Jays again on Saturday night.
While Boston still has six games left against New York, it can't afford to lose any more ground. John Lackey was the culprit on Friday. Lackey allowed seven runs in just 4 1/3 innings. He also hit three batters and threw four wild pitches in the contest.
Boston jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a first-inning homer by Victor Martinez, but the Blue Jays scored the next 10 runs on the way to an 11-9 victory.
Martinez had a pair of two-run homers in the contest but Jays' closer Kevin Gregg got him to pop out to shortstop to end the game with a runner on base.
Jose Bautista hit his franchise-record 48th home run in the contest. Bautista, who has seven homers against Boston this season, surpassed the previous mark of 47 set by George Bell in 1987.
Toronto beat up the Boston pitching on Friday for 17 hits and snapped the Red Sox's four-game winning streak.
Staked to an offensive outburst, Brett Cecil picked up the win in this one.
Boston played without J.D. Drew for the fifth consecutive game on Friday night. Drew, who has been taking batting practice, is plagued by a sore ankle.
Ricky Romero starts for the Blue Jays on Saturday. Romero (12-9) has faced the Red Sox three times this season - and Boston has won all three games.
On the season, he has allowed 22 hits and 18 runs in 15 innings against Boston. He is 1-4 lifetime against them.
Josh Beckett (5-4) starts for Boston. He is 3-5 lifetime against Toronto.
Beckett received a no-decision against the Blue Jays in his only start against them this year, but he was hammered in the contest for eight runs and nine hits in just three innings.
It's been an awful year for the veteran right-hander, who signed a multi-year deal with the club before the season started.
Beckett has made just 18 starts this season while his ERA has been over six runs most of the time. His current mark of 5.83 is regrettably the highest is has been since his third start of the season.
Beckett has been racking up the strikeouts lately. He's fanned 34 batters in his last 32 innings, but is just 2-2 in that time.