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Blue Jays fueled by costly error, down Red Sox

Apr 5, 2008 - 11:42 PM TORONTO (Ticker) -- The Toronto Blue Jays capitalized on a costly error and Frank Thomas blasted his 514th career home run Saturday en route to a 10-2 drubbing of the Boston Red Sox.

David Eckstein drove in three runs and Jesse Litsch (1-0) pitched five-plus effective innings for the Blue Jays, who outscored the Red Sox by combined margin of 16-5 over the first two games of this series.

After giving the Red Sox a 2-1 edge in the fourth inning with an RBI single, first baseman Sean Casey made a costly error in the bottom of the frame.

With the bases loaded and one out, Gregg Zaun hit a sharp grounder right at Casey. But instead of getting a possible inning-ending double play, Casey had the ball skip off him.

Both Lyle Overbay and Aaron Hill came around to score on the play, and Eckstein followed with an RBI single to give the Blue Jays a 4-2 lead.

"You've got to take advantage of those things," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "That's how we got beat in New York (earlier this week). A couple miscues and they ended up beating us. When you get them, you've got to take advantage of them."

Eckstein started another rally in the sixth, greeting Bryan Corey with a two-run base hit to right to ignite a six-run frame. One out later, Alex Rios smacked an RBI double to left, and Vernon Wells followed with a run-scoring single.

"We've done a good job of sticking to the plan no matter what," Eckstein said. "The more situations we put ourselves in to be successful - by putting guys where they're supposed to be and getting into scoring position and staying to our approach - that's when we're going to start doing what we did today."

"The best thing your guys in the bullpen can do is locate when they come in right off the bat," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "When they don't, it can lead to runs."

Thomas then blasted his first homer of the season, a two-run shot over the center field wall off Corey to extend Toronto's advantage to 10-2.

"We're playing team baseball right now," Thomas said. "We're getting guys over and doing the little things to score runs. You didn't see this as much last year. We were more, 'Get a guy on and try to hit the bomb,' and that's the way it was."

"We've been putting on good at-bats - that's all you can ask," Gibbons added. "But there's no guarantees. You can't get hits every time you're up there - that's not going to happen. So if you battle each at-bat and you go up there with a plan, you give yourself a chance."

Litsch, who was relieved by Brian Tallet after Mike Lowell led off the sixth with a single, gave up two runs, five hits and three walks with two strikeouts.

Manny Ramirez gave the Red Sox an early lead with an RBI double in the first. But Overbay answered with a run-scoring single in the second to tie the game at 1-1.

Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz (0-1) lasted five innings, allowing four runs and six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

"I finally got into the fifth inning of a game," Buchholz said. "I felt good; I felt like I could have gone the rest of the game if they wanted me to. I feel healthy now, and I'm ready to get back out there whenever they give me the ball again."