The Red Sox are back at it in Toronto Friday night, facing elimination from postseason contention if they can't hold on for one more day against the Toronto Blue Jays.
We'll keep you up-to-date on all the action as it goes down in Rogers Centre.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 5, End 8th -- Vicente Padilla lets the Jays grab the tie in the eighth. A leadoff single and double is all it takes, and just like that we're at 5-5 with only a sliding grab by Daniel Nava to thank that it's not much worse.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 4, Mid 8th -- The Sox waste a chance to get further ahead, stranding Jose Iglesias, who replaced James Loney, who replaced Daniel Nava after Nava's leadoff single. Iglesias would end up on third after a bad throw when they had him caught red handed trying to steal second, but Pedro Ciriaco grounded out to end the threat.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 4, End 7th -- Junichi Tazawa continues his incredible season, tearing through the Blue Jays 1-2-3 in the seventh with a pair of strikeouts against Anthony Gose and Rajai Davis to close it out.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 4, Mid 7th -- Frasor grabs three very quick outs, two of them on strikes and the third on a weak ground ball to end the top of the seventh.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 4, End 6th -- Give Daisuke an inch, and he'll take half your lead! Alright, so that's not entirely fair to the starter, but he does allow a one-out triple to Adam Lind, which puts Clayton Mortensen in one tricky situation. The young reliever can't avoid letting the run in on a single, though he records the other two outs without surrendering the lead.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3, Mid 6th -- The Sox get a leadoff baserunner when Jose Iglesias gets plunked, but his pain ends up being in vain as they fall in order to Jason Frasor. For once, however, the Sox can just hold a lead, rather than needing to find one.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3, End 5th -- Another 1-2-3 inning, and it seems like Daisuke will actually be able to pitch into the sixth inning. No if only this wasn't such a rare event...
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3, Mid 5th -- The Red Sox are ahead, and they pretty much have Brett Lawrie to thank. With two out and Mike Aviles on second, Lawrie gets a ground ball and, instead of going to first, tries to tag Aviles headed to third. Aviles pulls out his best football moves, spins around the tag, and dives into third to avoid the out and give the Sox new life. Ryan Lavarnway draws a walk behind him, and Daniel Nava provides the big hit with a drive to right field that scores both men in scoring position.
Red Sox 3, Blue Jays 3, End 4th -- Daisuke comes in and records a 1-2-3 fourth. Of course he does. Somehow his ability to do that after walking every player to ever wear a Blue Jays uniform just makes it all worse.
Red Sox 3, Blue Jays 3, Mid 4th -- One swing gets it all back for Boston as the middle of the order shows some life. A Cody Ross walk and Mauro Gomez single set up Ryan Lavarnway, who hooks an 85 MPH fastball, putting it on a line and driving it over the wall in left for a three-run shot that ties the game up. Aaron Laffey is already out of the game, too, leaving five innings of pen work for the Blue Jays.
Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 0, End 3rd -- And the most Daisuke inning ever costs the Sox three runs. The Blue Jays did not record a single hit, and the Red Sox made no errors in this inning. Instead, it was walks and wild pitches that did them in. A hit batter to start, two plunkings with a strike out mixed in, pair of runs coming in when balls in the dirt escaped Ryan Lavarnway, all capped off by a double play not turned before Daisuke finally got the last out. Opposing teams don't even have to try against him. He just gives runs away.
Red Sox 0, Blue Jays 0, Mid 3rd -- This time it's Boston's turn to waste an opportunity. After two quick outs from the bottom of the order, Pedro Ciriaco and Jacoby Ellsbury both manage to get out of the infield, picking up back-to-back singles to put two men on. A double steal even leaves them both in scoring position, but it goes for naught as Anthony Gose manages to track Mike Aviles' fly ball to the corner in right for the third out.
Red Sox 0, Blue Jays 0, End 2nd -- Shockingly enough, not only is Daisuke not really responsible for the first jam he faces, but he manages to get out of the jam to boot. A leadoff double comes on what is essentially a pop-up from Adam Lind. Pedro Ciriaco ranges back as Daniel Nava comes in, but the ball drops between the two as neither really seems ready to take charge. Daisuke gets two easy ground balls, however, and spots the corner with a fastball to get J.P. Arencibia on strikes and end the inning.
Red Sox 0, Blue Jays 0, Mid 2nd -- More than a successful Kevin Cash at bat, Mauro Gomez actually manages to draw a 1-out walk off of Laffey. That's all the Sox get, however, with the rest of the outs coming easily on the ground.
Red Sox 0, Blue Jays 0, End 1st -- After the awful outing he had in the last series against the Jays, Daisuke's 1-2-3 first seems little short of a miracle. He does have some good infield defense behind him, but really it only makes up for the bad that comes when Pedro Ciriaco throws the ball away trying to make a highlight play on a swinging bunt to third. Mike Aviles backs up the throw perfectly, and throws Brett Lawrie out at second by a ways. Add in a nice play coming in by Jose Iglesias, and it's a mercifully quick first.
Red Sox 0, Blue Jays 0, Mid 1st -- Back when Kevin Cash was Boston's backup catcher, some of us observers developed an easy rule for him to follow: five pitches is a successful Kevin Cash at bat. You couldn't expect anything out of him offensively, so if he made the pitcher throw at least five pitches in getting him out, we could all chalk it up as a success.
I bring this up because the Red Sox aren't pulling that off right now. After letting Phil Hughes get through three innings on 26 pitches last night, they've given up a quick first to Aaron Laffey in Toronto, with only Mike Aviles even succeeding in producing a decent Kevin Cash at bat by flying out on the sixth pitch he saw.