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Young hurlers highlight Blue Jays-Red Sox finale

Jul 24, 2014 - 12:45 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of impressive young hurlers square off on Thursday when Marcus Stroman and the Toronto Blue Jays close out a four-game set against Rubby De La Rosa and the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre.

Stroman, the Blue Jays top pick in the 2012 draft, has been terrific since being inserted into the rotation for Toronto. He was certainly on point Saturday against the Texas Rangers, as he scattered four hits and struck out five batters over seven scoreless innings to run his record to 5-2, while lowering his ERA to 3.58 ERA.

He also retired the final nine batters he faced after getting into a little trouble in the fourth.

"I feel like I know what I need to do [in that situation]," said Stroman. "You have to raise your intensity. You can't be as relaxed. I'm able to make a big pitch in a crucial count, and that was one of those moments."

It was his seventh quality start in nine tries to improve him to 4-2 with a 2.50 ERA since becoming a starter.

Boston, meanwhile, will counter with the 25-year-old De La Rosa, who is 3-2 with a 2.64 ERA. De La Rosa stretched his unbeaten streak to four starts on Saturday, as he beat the Kansas City Royals, holding them to a run and five hits over seven innings.

De La Rosa is a perfect 3-0 at home this season, but is 0-2 with a 4.42 ERA in three road starts.

After losing Monday's opener Toronto has responded with two straight wins and on Wednesday Jose Bautista homered and added an RBI double to power the Blue Jays to a 6-4 victory.

Colby Rasmus, Josh Thole and Ryan Goins each drove in runs for the Blue Jays, who rallied from an early three-run deficit to win for the fourth time in five games.

R.A. Dickey (8-10) hung in long enough for the win, lasting six full frames despite allowing four runs on nine hits with five strikeouts. Casey Janssen collected his 15th save with a perfect ninth.

"When you start the game giving up three runs without recording an out, it can really weight on you mentally," Dickey stated. "It was a very satisfying win for me personally because I kept us in the game long enough for us to scratch it out."

David Ortiz hit a three-run blast for the Red Sox, while Clay Buchholz (5-6) surrendered four earned runs on six hits while walking four over six innings.

Toronto has won six of its nine meetings with the Red Sox this season.