The Boston Red Sox seem to like playing at Sahlen Park in Buffalo, hitting five more homeruns on Wednesday night for a 7-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Sox scored 20 runs, had 23 hits, with 11 homers, and 18 extra base hits in the two wins at the Triple A home of the Jays. Alex Cora also began the 14th manager in franchise history to reach 250 career wins.
Kike Hernandez broke a scoreless tie with a line drive two-run homerun to left field in the third inning to make it 2-0 Boston. Rafael Devers extended the advantage to 3-0 with a line drive over the center field wall for a solo homer in the fourth. Vladimir Guerrero would get Toronto on the scoreboard with his 32nd homerun, a no doubter way over the right field fence in the bottom of the fourth. The Sox seemed to be in good shape when Michael Chavis hit a solo homer in the fifth, and Christian Vazquez had what turned out to be the game winning RBI single in the sixth that made it 5-1. The Jays rallied within one though in the bottom half of the sixth ending the night for Garrett Richards when George Springer hit a two-run homerun, and Teoscar Hernandez made it back to back with a solo homer of his own. The guests would pull away with two outs in the eighth inning against reliever Jordan Romano when JD Martinez and Hunter Renfoe hit back to back solo homers. After splitting time in Dunedin, Florida and in Buffalo, Toronto is finally able to return home to the Rogers Centre where they’ll host a game for the first time since 2019 on July 30th against the Kansas City Royals.
Richards (6-5) picked up the win on the mound allowing four runs on four hits with one walk and five strikeouts in 5.2 innings. Garrett Whitlock and Adam Ottavino both picked up a hold out of the bullpen, while Matt Barnes worked a perfect ninth inning for his 20th save. Hernandez and Martinez both had two hits, as Boston improves to 58-38. Robbie Ray (8-5) took the loss for Toronto allowing four runs on five hits in 5.0 innings. Hernandez had two hits, as the Jays drop to 48-44. The Red Sox will open a four game series with their division rival the New York Yankees on Thursday night at Fenway Park. RHP Tanner Houck (0-2, 3.38 ERA) takes the ball in the opener, while NY counters with LHP Jordan Montgomery (3-5, 4.18).
