Blue Jays 5 - 4 Red Sox
Final/11
  for this game

Red Sox hope to rebound against Blue Jays

Jun 13, 2015 - 12:26 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox hope to make up some ground in the American League East standings, and will clash head-to-head Saturday afternoon in the second leg of a three-game series at Fenway Park.

The visiting Blue Jays send seasoned veteran R.A. Dickey to the mound for the start, while Boston counters with struggling ace Clay Buchholz.

Dickey is hoping to lower a 5.35 earned run average when he takes on Boston, but his success this season against the Red Sox has been minimal. He enters the fray with just a 2-6 record and has walked 28 batters compared to 46 strikeouts.

His last start was on June 7 against Houston, a no-decision in which Dickey lasted 5 2/3 innings and gave up two runs on four hits. He struck out five and walked four.

In two starts against Boston this season, Dickey is 0-2 with 10 runs allowed combined and 16 hits. This will be his second start at Fenway this year.

Buchholz is doing the best he can to recover from a horrendous start to the season. His last outing against Oakland back on June 7 wasn't very helpful in his recovery efforts.

The Boston righty earned a no-decision after lasting just 4 2/3 innings on the mound, where he allowed 10 hits and four runs. That was one start after picking up a dominant win over Minnesota earlier this month, though.

Buchholz is 3-6 this season with a 4.07 ERA. He's managed a respectable 74 strikeouts and has walked only 20 batters in 73 innings of work.

In his career versus Toronto, Buchholz is 12-9 with a 3.42 ERA and 113 punch outs to 65 walks.

The Red Sox blew a golden opportunity to pick up a victory Friday night. Up 8-4 heading into the seventh inning, the hosts gave up nine runs to the Blue Jays and suddenly found themselves down, 13-8. Boston could only shave two runs off the edge in an ultimate 13-10 loss.

Toronto starter Drew Hutchison was pulled after just 2 1/3 innings after he allowed nine hits and eight earned runs. But Boston relievers Matt Barnes, Junichi Tazawa and Tommy Layne combined to aid in the collapse.

Justin Smoak clobbered his fifth home run of the season, this one off Layne before the Sox were finally able to get out of the miserable inning. He and Russell Martin each drove in three runs in the contest for the Jays.

"Those guys are a very good hitting team, obviously one of the best in the league," said Boston starter Joe Kelly. "They were just hitting pretty much everything tonight."

Steve Delabar was credited with the win for Toronto, and Brett Cecil notched his third save of the year.

Pablo Sandoval and Mookie Betts each recorded their sixth home runs of the year in the loss. Dustin Pedroia joined in by belting his ninth over the left field monster.

Every batter on the Blue Jays recorded at least one RBI in the contest. Josh Donaldson and Smoak had three hits apiece as the two teams scattered 27 combined hits in the game.

Toronto took the lead in the season series with the win, four games to three.






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