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Lind homers, Rzepczynski wins as Jays beat Red Sox

Jul 18, 2009 - 9:03 PM TORONTO(AP) -- Marc Rzepczynski might need to switch cell phone plans if he keeps pitching this well for the Toronto Blue Jays. All those cross-border calls back to his California home will start costing him a bundle.

Adam Lind hit a two-run homer, Rzepczynski earned his first major league win and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 6-2 on Saturday.

Jose Bautista added a two-run double as Toronto ended a three-game skid and snapped Boston's four-game winning streak.

Making his third career start, the left-handed Rzepczynski (1-1) allowed one run and four hits in six innings. He walked four, struck out four and lowered his ERA to 2.50.

"I worked my butt off," Rzepczynski said. "That's as hard as I've hard to work so far up here. They took good pitches, they hit good pitches. It was definitely a battle today."

Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said he's been impressed by Rezepczynski's maturity.

"He just looks like he belongs here," Gaston said. "He handles himself that way, and the fact that he doesn't get riled out there at all. He seems to be able to deal with pressure."

Rzepczynski got out of a jam in the fifth, striking out Kevin Youkilis and then getting David Ortiz on a broken-bat grounder to strand runners at first and second. He finished his outing by starting a 1-4-3 double play.

"The nerves were going for a while," he said. "I knew I was getting up there in pitches. It was the first time I'd had a ground ball back at me so far. Getting that last out, it was good to feel that I got the last out."

Boston stranded seven runners in all and went 1 for 12 with men in scoring position.

"We needed a breakthrough at bat and couldn't get it," manager Terry Francona said.

Jesse Carlson recorded two outs and Jeremy Accardo got the third in the seventh, Jason Frasor worked the eighth and Scott Downs finished it in the ninth as Toronto won for just the fourth time in 17 games.

Rzepczynski was nearly denied his game ball after Toronto's Lyle Overbay made the final out and tossed the ball into the crowd. Pitching coach Brad Arnsberg tracked down the fan and traded two balls for Rzepczynski's keepsake. The lefty planned to give the ball to his parents, and said they'd be the first of many phone calls he'd be making.

"I will be paying because I still have a U.S. phone," Rzepczynski said. "I will be making a hefty phone call tonight but, you know, it's worth it. It doesn't matter. I'll be calling people, texting people, letting people know."

Boston's Brad Penny (6-4) allowed six runs and eight hits in five innings and has won just once in nine starts. He walked one and struck out three.

"I thought he left some pitches up, especially breaking balls," Francona said. "It just seemed like very time he left an off-speed pitch up, they made him pay for it."

Boston opened the scoring in the second when Jason Bay doubled and came around on a single by Rocco Baldelli.

Toronto tied it in the bottom half when Scott Rolen scored on Kevin Millar's double play grounder, then took the lead with a three-run fourth. Alex Rios hit an RBI single and Bautista hit a two-out, two-run double.

"I didn't get away with anything up today," Penny said. "The pitch that killed me was the hanging curveball that (Bautista) hit with two outs."

Lind made it 6-1 with an opposite field homer in the fifth, his 20th, which extended his hitting streak to a season-high 10 games.

Red Sox shortstop Jed Lowrie, who was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket before the game, hit his first homer of the year off Carlson in the seventh. Lowrie had not played since April 12 because of a sore wrist. He had surgery April 21.

Penny became the first Boston starter in eight games to allow more than three runs. The righty had not allowed more than three since giving up five against Texas on June 5.

Rolen made the defensive play of a the game, a leaping catch on J.D. Drew's liner in the seventh.

NOTES: Boston OF Jacoby Ellsbury and Toronto OF Vernon Wells both sat out for the second straight game because of illness. ... Toronto OF David Dellucci, who left Friday's game after fouling a ball off his left foot, is day-to-day. ... Millar went 0 for 4 and struck out looking three times. ... The Blue Jays will try to win a series for the first time in six tries Sunday when RHP Roy Halladay (10-3) faces Boston LHP Jon Lester (8-6).