Toronto @ Boston preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 8, 2015 ) Toronto 5, Boston 1

Josh Donaldson provided another big moment in his pursuit of the American League MVP and his Toronto Blue Jays picked up another big win Tuesday night. The visiting Blue Jays seek their seventh straight series win when they take on the Boston Red Sox in the rubber match of a three-game series Wednesday.

Donaldson's leadoff triple in the 10th inning Tuesday led to the tiebreaking run in an eventual 5-1 win, evening the series at a game apiece and helping first-place Toronto open a 1 1/2-game lead in the AL East. The All-Star third baseman is 6-for-11 with a home run and four runs scored in the last three games and continues to carve up Red Sox pitching. He is now hitting .338 with 14 runs scored in 15 games versus Boston and has scored nine times in eight contests at Fenway Park. The Red Sox had won four in a row while scoring 33 runs before they were held to four hits by five Toronto pitchers Tuesday night.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, SNET (Toronto), NESN (Boston)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Blue Jays RH Drew Hutchison (13-3, 5.07 ERA) vs. Red Sox RH Joe Kelly (9-6, 4.84)

Hutchison let up a total of seven earned runs in four August starts but began September in poor fashion, allowing six runs in five frames of a 10-2 loss to Baltimore on Friday. He owns a 9.00 ERA in 11 outings on the road, where he has not pitched since July 25. One of those road starts came at Fenway Park on June 12, when the 25-year-old was reached for a season-high eight runs in a season-low 2 1/3 innings.

Kelly's run of seven straight winning starts matches Josh Beckett (2007) and Curt Schilling (2004) as the longest streak for a Red Sox pitcher since Pedro Martinez won nine in a row in 1999. He kept alive the surge when he allowed two runs in six frames of a 7-5 victory over Philadelphia on Friday. The 27-year-old has struggled against the Blue Jays, giving up 15 runs on 16 hits and 12 walks in 17 2/3 innings spread over three starts this year.

WALK-OFFS

1. Toronto 1B Chris Colabello is 6-for-11 with two doubles and two walks in his last three contests.

2. Red Sox CF Mookie Betts owns a career-high 14-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 16 consecutive games (.418) against Toronto.

3. Blue Jays 1B-DH Edwin Encarnacion has reached base safely in 38 straight games, tying the club record.

PREDICTION: Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 5