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Red Sox suffer late meltdown against Blue Jays

Jun 13, 2015 - 6:16 AM Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - If the last-place Boston Red Sox thought their season could not get any worse, they were proven wrong on Friday night.

After taking an early 8-1 lead, Boston gradually lost its edge before the Toronto Blue Jays scored nine times in the seventh inning in a 13-10 win over the Red Sox.

The Red Sox used three relievers in the decisive seventh inning, two of which did not record an out. Matt Barnes was charged with three runs, and Junichi Tazawa (0-2) was tagged for five runs -- four earned -- before Tommy Layne finally got Boston out of the inning, but not before allowing an insurance home run to Justin Smoak.

"We just have to keep grinding, keep having good at-bats. We knew we would have chance there at the end and we were able to do it," Smoak said.

Smoak drove in three runs in a three-hit game, and Russell Martin's bases- clearing triple in the seventh provided the go-ahead runs. Josh Donaldson also collected three hits, and Ryan Goins picked up a pair of doubles as the Blue Jays extended their winning streak to nine games.

Blue Jays starter Drew Hutchison did not last long, allowing eight runs in 2 1/3 innings, but five Toronto relievers combined to yield just two runs over the final 6 2/3 frames. Steve Delabar (2-0) was credited with the win for pitching one scoreless inning.

Hutchison's counterpart, Joe Kelly, was in line for the victory with four runs allowed in six innings before the bullpen's meltdown.

"Those guys are a very good hitting team, obviously one of the best in the league," said Kelly. "They were just hitting pretty much everything tonight."

Trailing 8-1 after three innings, the Blue Jays started chipping away at Boston's big lead with a three-run fifth. Goins doubled home a run, and the Red Sox conceded another to record an out before Donaldson's two-out single scored Goins to pull Toronto within 8-4.

After Kevin Pillar led off the seventh with a single, Goins hit another RBI double to make it an 8-5 game. Jose Reyes' run-scoring hit chased Barnes from the game, but the inning was far from over.

Donaldson reached on an infield hit, and Jose Bautista's single scored Reyes to cut Toronto's deficit to 8-7. The Red Sox thought they may have had an out when Blake Swihart nearly picked off Bautista at first base, but replay confirmed he was safe.

Edwin Encarnacion's single loaded the bases, and the Blue Jays then tied the game when Pablo Sandoval booted a ground ball from Chris Colabello. With the bases still loaded, Martin delivered a triple over Rusney Castillo's head in center field to clear the bases and give Toronto an 11-8 lead.

Boston called on Layne to stop the bleeding, but he was unable to do so. Smoak's fifth home run of the season cleared the Green Monster to extend the Blue Jays' advantage to 13-8. Layne then retired the next three batters to finally bring the inning to an end.

To their credit, the Red Sox attempted to battle back. With two outs in the eighth, Xander Bogaerts singled home Swihart to bring Boston within 13-9, and Brett Cecil walked David Ortiz before Mike Napoli was called out on strikes to end the inning.

The Red Sox continued to make the game interesting against Cecil in the ninth. With two outs, Castillo doubled to bring in Swihart. They would have brought the potential tying run to the plate if Dustin Pedroia reached base, but he struck out on a 3-2 pitch to end the game.

Boston jumped all over the Blue Jays in the first inning. Ortiz singled home two with one out, and after Napoli fanned for the second out of the inning, Sandoval and Mookie Betts hit back-to-back home runs to put Boston up 5-0.

The Blue Jays answered with one in the second thanks to Smoak's triple that scored Encarnacion. On the play, Betts crashed into the wall, and he had to leave the game after the inning with what was described as a lower back sprain.

Pedroia's three-run homer in the third extended Boston's lead to seven before the game turned south.

Game Notes

Cecil recorded his third save of the season. It was the first save for a Blue Jays pitcher since May 4 ... The Red Sox have lost four in a row ... Toronto was 8-for-12 with runners in scoring position ... Castillo had three hits and reached base four times ... Alejandro De Aza replaced Betts and went 0-for-3 ... Tonya Carpenter, the fan injured by a broken bat during last Friday's Red Sox game, was released from the hospital Friday.