Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Darnell McDonald and David Ortiz hit back-to- back home runs in the sixth inning after Boston ended Jesse Litsch's no-hit bid, sending the Red Sox to a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Marco Scutaro had Boston's first hit, a double, before the homers from McDonald and Ortiz. Daisuke Matsuzaka (6-3) pitched six shutout innings before giving up a two-run homer to Aaron Hill in the seventh. However, he still got the victory after the Boston bullpen closed the game.
Daniel Bard threw two shutout innings, while Jonathan Papelbon pitched a scoreless ninth for his 20th save.
Litsch (0-4) ended up with the loss, giving up the three runs, four hits and a walk in seven innings.
Boston had lost four in a row heading into this series, but won two of three and heads into the All-Star break with a 51-37 record, third in the American League East.
However, the Red Sox could have another injury to deal with, as third baseman Adrian Beltre suffered an apparent left hamstring injury while running to first.
Toronto goes into the break with a 44-45 record, having stumbled since posting a 31-22 mark through the end of May.
It was a scoreless game through five full innings, and Litsch struck out the first two batters he faced in the sixth. However, Scutaro followed with a double to center, and the game kept going in Boston's favor from there.
Litsch got behind McDonald and threw a 3-1 changeup over the heart of the plate, and McDonald hit it over the left-field fence for a 2-0 edge. Ortiz followed by hitting an inside slider to right for his 18th homer of the season.
Armed with a lead, Matsuzaka worked a scoreless bottom of the sixth, but gave up a leadoff single to Adam Lind in the seventh. Matsuzaka then left a pitch up in the zone for Hill, who hammered it to left to get the Blue Jays within 3-2.
The hit chased Matsuzaka, though Bard came in and got through the inning and worked a 1-2-3 eighth. Papelbon came in for the ninth and gave up a two-out single to Lyle Overbay, but retired John Buck to end the game.
Matsuzaka allowed six hits, did not walk a batter and struck out five in his six-plus innings...Bard has not allowed a run over his last 10 outings (10 innings)...Hill's home run was his 12th of the season and Toronto's MLB- leading 136th.