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Red Sox rally in bottom of 10th to beat Blue Jays

Sep 6, 2014 - 6:03 AM Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - Yoenis Cespedes' hit to center with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning capped a rally from two runs down in the top of the frame and sent the Boston Red Sox to a 9-8 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game series from Fenway Park.

Edwin Encarnacion started the top of the 10th with a one-out single against Junichi Tazawa, then pinch-hitter John Mayberry Jr. hit a double against Tommy Layne (2-1) and sent pinch-runner Marcus Stroman to third. Dioner Navarro struck a bloop single just shy of second base, scoring Stroman, and a deep fly to right by Danny Valencia ended up scoring Mayberry when Allen Craig held onto the ball too long, thinking it was the third out.

The first three Boston batters reached against Casey Janssen (3-3), as Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts singled and Christian Vazquez reached on a bunt. Will Middlebrooks' base hit brought in Betts for an 8-7 game. Dustin Pedroia narrowly missed a game-winning homer inside the Pesky Pole in right, but settled for a line-drive sacrifice fly to left, scoring Bogaerts.

David Ortiz followed with a slow grounder to second, but the throw by Toronto's Steve Tolleson missed the bag to re-load the bases. Cespedes ended the contest with a blistering drive that hit the ground just in front of the wall to score pinch-runner Jemile Weeks.

"A few of those balls, a couple of inches here, and a couple of inches there, and a different outcome," Janssen said.

Cespedes ended up 4-for-6 with two RBI for the Red Sox, who had dropped the final two games against the Yankees in the Bronx. Bogaerts collected three hits and drove in two, Betts added two hits, an RBI and scored three times, while Mike Napoli drove in a run and scored once.

"Everyone did something in a different way, and that's how you win ballgames," Bogaerts said.

Encarnacion and Jose Bautista each hit a two-run homer for the Blue Jays, whose five-game win streak came to a halt. Adam Lind contributed a pair of RBI in a losing cause.

Lind's two-out, two-run single in the first staked the Jays to a 2-0 lead, but the Sox responded with single runs in their first three times at the plate.

Cespedes brought in Brock Holt with a two-out hit, then Betts walked, Bogaerts singled and a fly to right from Vazquez evened the score.

In the third, Pedroia singled, went to third on a Cespedes double and scored on a Napoli groundout to give the hosts a 3-2 edge, but Toronto moved ahead in the sixth as pinch-hitter Anthony Gose led off with a single and Bautista hit a two-run shot to left center.

Jose Reyes began the eighth with a hit off Craig Breslow, then Encarnacion launched another two-run blast to left center off Alex Wilson to provide a 6-3 advantage for the visitors.

Boston knotted the score once more in the home half. Cespedes and Napoli singled and pulled off a double steal, ahead of a Betts RBI single and two-run double by Bogaerts.

The Sox had two on with none out in the bottom of the ninth and failed to score.

Game Notes

The homers by Encarnacion and Bautista gave Toronto two players with at least 30 home runs ... Bautista reached the 30-HR plateau for the third time in his career ... Prior to the contest, the Red Sox recalled outfielder Jackie Bradley, Jr. and pitcher Drake Britton from Triple-A Pawtucket ... Including pitchers, a combined 44 players saw the field ... Blue Jays left fielder Melky Cabrera left the game after injuring his hand while sliding into first base. He was later diagnosed with a right pinky finger fracture with an avulsion of an extensor tendon, and will undergo season-ending surgery next week.