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Jays bang out 18 hits, sweep Red Sox

Jul 23, 2012 - 12:25 AM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - J.P. Arencibia knocked in four runs and Travis Snider had three RBI, as the Toronto Blue Jays finished off a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 15-7 win at Fenway Park.

Rajai Davis, Edwin Encarnacion and Colby Rasmus each drove in two runs for Toronto, which banged out 18 hits.

The Blue Jays swept the Red Sox for the first time since September 28-30, 2009.

Adrian Gonzalez clubbed a three-run homer for the Red Sox, while starter Jon Lester (5-8) endured a forgettable outing. Lester allowed a career-high 11 runs on nine hits, including four homers, and five walks in four-plus innings.

"It's embarrassing. I've let my team down a lot this year," said Lester. "It's hard for me to walk around this clubhouse and look guys in the eye right now. I'm not pitching well, I'm not doing my job. The guys score seven runs today, we should win this game."

Lester's afternoon got off to a rough start as Brett Lawrie sent his first pitch of the game over the Green Monster in left field. And the first inning only got worse for the southpaw.

Yunel Escobar walked and Rasmus bunted for a single before Encarnacion stroked a ground-rule double to right. Arencibia hit a run-scoring groundout, Davis pulled an RBI double and Jeff Mathis executed the safety squeeze to perfection, plating Davis with Toronto's fifth run of the frame.

Toronto starter Henderson Alvarez (6-7) equally struggled on the mound in the first, enabling the Red Sox to immediately cut into their deficit. Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia singled around a groundout, and Gonzalez drove an offering to the right-field seats.

Lester's woes resumed in the second as Toronto increased its lead to 9-3. He walked two batters before allowing back-to-back two-out homers to Arencibia and Davis. Snider took Lester deep after Davis drew a leadoff walk in the fifth.

Ellsbury then opened the bottom of the fifth by belting a solo shot to center for his first home run of the season. The Red Sox had loaded the bases an inning earlier, but produced just one run on Mike Aviles' sacrifice fly.

Boston closed the gap to 11-6 in the sixth when Ryan Sweeney and Aviles hit back-to-back doubles with two outs. The right fielder Davis had lost Sweeney's fly ball in the sun and Aviles followed with a drive off the Green Monster. Nick Punto then singled home Aviles to draw the Red Sox to within four.

The Blue Jays tacked on four more runs in the eighth. Rasmus drove in a pair with a bases-loaded single, while Encarnacion and Snider both lofted sacrifice flies.

Game Notes

Alvarez was tagged for seven runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings...The Blue Jays were 6-for-12 with runners in scoring position...Junichi Tazawa struck out five over three scoreless innings for the Red Sox.