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Blue Jays thump Red Sox in opener of doubleheader

Sep 13, 2008 - 9:04 PM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- A.J. Burnett gave the Toronto Blue Jays a pulse and his offense gave them life against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday afternoon.

Rookie prospect Travis Snider belted a three-run homer and drove in five runs while Vernon Wells added a pair of RBI doubles to lead the Blue Jays over the Red Sox, 8-1, in the first game of a day-night doubleheader at Fenway Park.

After losing, 7-0, on Friday night in the opener of the four-game series and facing a desperate situation in their race for an American League wild card spot, the Blue Jays moved back to within 6 1/2 games of the Red Sox with the easy victory.

"You're excited to play every day when you're here anyway, but it's an extra boost to compete when you know you're battling for the playoffs," Snider said. "It means a lot. It takes the pressure off, wondering when you're going to be in the lineup. For me, I'm not worried at all about that."

Burnett (18-10) joined teammate Roy Halladay as 18-game winners in the American League.

"We've been going for it," Burnett said. "We're playing good ball here lately. We had a little hiccup last night, but we got right back on the same page we left off. We just came in here trying to make some noise whenever we play. Hopefully, we can make something special happen - just go try to win every game. We feel like we can win every game."

Burnett allowed just three hits and one unearned run over six-plus innings.

"Burnett, he was pretty good," Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek said. "He had command of his curveball on both sides of the plate. He really, really had a good curveball today."

"He pitched a great game for us," Toronto manager Cito Gaston said. "If he hadn't thrown so many pitches, I probably would have ran him out there one more inning. He gave us a chance to win this ballgame and the guys came through."

Halladay will pitch Sunday on three days' rest in the series finale.

The Blue Jays got to Boston starter Paul Byrd (11-12) for 10 hits and five runs over five-plus innings. The Red Sox righthander had his four-game personal winning streak snapped and lost for the first time since making his Boston debut against Toronto on August 16.

In his last seven starts, Byrd has faced the Blue Jays four times, going 2-2, including a win in his last start with Cleveland on August 9.

"I've faced them a lot but I just didn't make the pitches that I needed to make today," Byrd said. "I couldn't throw the ball away (from hitters) very well. It was up and then I just left some key pitches over the middle of the plate and you can't do that against a team that is really hot and has great hitters."

The 20-year-old Snider's homer came off Byrd in a three-run fifth. He added a two-run double off David Aardsma in the sixth as Toronto expanded its lead to 8-0.

"We really made a kind of mistake to Snider," Varitek said. "That three-run homer there really hurt us. I think he was really better than the (10) hits."

Jacoby Ellsbury stole a pair of bases for Boston, giving him 47 on the season, moving him into third place on the club's all-time list, one ahead of Tris Speaker's 46 in 1913.

The game was the make-up of a rainout between the two teams on August 15 at Fenway.