Mitch Moreland hit a game winning homerun, and Alex Verdugo hit a pair and also robbed a ninth inning homerun with a great catch at the right field fence Friday night, as the Boston Red Sox downed the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 at Fenway Park.
Cavan Biggio hit a solo homer, and Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerro Jr. also had RBI doubles in the loss for the 4-7 Blue Jays. Moreland had the game winner for the Red Sox in the bottom of the third with the game tied 2-2, a two run shot to right his fourth of the season. Moreland had walked with the bases loaded for the first Boston (5-8) run, and Verdugo hit solo homers in the second and eighth. Ryan Weber started the game on the mound and allowed two runs on five hits in 3.0 innings. Heath Hembree (2-0) got the win with a scoreless inning of relief, and Brandon Workman worked the final inning and got his third save. Travis Shaw was robbed of a solo homer by Verdugo in right to leadoff the ninth inning for Toronto. The right fielder went back with his back against the fence, and jumped up at the last moment to make a great catch for the first out. After a single by Teoscar Hernandez, Workman got Danny Jansen and Biggio to fly out to end it. Zack Godley takes to the mound for Boston Saturday night at 7:30 to be opposed by Chase Anderson for Toronto in the second game of a three game weekend series.
For the second straight game, the Boston Celtics put seven players in double figures in a 122-100 rout of the Toronto Raptors at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Boston (46-23) led early and never trailed in the game. The Celtics led by 10 just 5:28 into the contest and led by as many as 18 in the first half. The green built that lead to their biggest of 40 in the fourth quarter improving to 3-2 since the NBA restart. Toronto (49-19) suffered their first loss in the Orlando bubble (3-1). Jaylen Brown had 20 points to lead the way in the Boston win. Also getting into double figures was Jayson Tatum (18), Kemba Walker (17), Brad Wanamaker (15), Semi Ojeleye and Daniel Theis (11 each), and Robert Williams III (10). After tallying 20 three-pointers in a win over Brooklyn last time out, the Celtics hit 16 more Friday night (16-46). Fred Van Fleet had 13 points in the Toronto loss. Boston squares off with the Orlando Magic Sunday at 5 p.m., as they are down to just three regular season games remaining.
