Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 1

 

The Red Sox (8-2 in their last ten starts and still the hottest team in baseball right now) end their historic home stand with a W and win the series against the Toronto Blue Jays, two games to one.

Yesterday, the Sox won, 6-1, without any home runs or grandstanding heroics but with a relentless series of RBI base hits and a solid bullpen. Suarez, coming off the IL, had a deliberately short outing, throwing only 64 pitches over four innings but still racking up six strikeouts and not allowing any runs. 

The third-place Red Sox are 7½ games back from first-place Tampa Bay. The Yankees got blown out, 11-4, by Philly yesterday, so Boston now trails New York by 4½ in both the AL East and the Wild Card standings, where the Sox still hold the second berth.   

The Red Sox begin a West Coast road trip with four games in Sacramento (sure, why not?) against the A's (44-61). Tolle (5-6, 3.31) pitches the first game tonight (9:40). He faced the A's twice last season, starting one and relieving in the other, both without a decision. However, he lasted only two innings in his last start in, um, Sacramento, giving up two homers, but the Boston batters bailed him out and Chapman wound up taking the loss. Hey, it was Tolle's third MLB appearance, gimme a break. The A's will start Jack Perkins (2-5, 6.75). This won't end well for Jack. 

A sweep of the A's would be nice, because next the Sox play three in L.A. against Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, and the Dodgers (67-39). A sweep of the A's and winning at least one against the Dodgers would result in a 5-2 road  trip, and I'd be happy with that outcome.