It's raining in Fenway, but the Sox and Jays are going to try to get the game in. We'll keep you up-to-date on the soggy action as it goes down in Boston.
Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 2, End 8th -- A leadoff single blooped into right by Jose Iglesias is wasted as the Sox fall in order afterwards. They're just three outs away from 1-10.
Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 2, Mid 8th -- This time, the Jays don't wait around for the Red Sox to rally. Getting to Vicente Padilla for three straight singles to start the inning, they add a sixth to their tally with Adam Lind scoring Cody Rasmus.
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 2, End 7th -- Three more quick outs for Lincoln leave the Sox with just six to go and three runs to make up. This was when they started their rally last night. Are they too late to give it a go this time?
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 2, Mid 7th -- Melancon records another strong inning, picking up his third strikeout of the night between two ground balls. It's performances like this which show us what the Sox hoped to get, but unfortunately they're all-too-elusive when it really counts.
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 2, End 6th -- Lincoln responds in kind, picking up two strikeouts for himself in a 1-2-3 bottom half and sending the game to the seventh with the Jays still up three.
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 2, Mid 6th -- Mark Melancon does a creditable job against the Jays in the sixth, striking out two more in a 1-2-3 frame. The Sox may avoid using all of their pen tonight if the arms taking the mound can continue to be quite so effective.
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 2, End 5th -- Four pitches from Brad Lincoln later, and we're through five. It only took 4 hours!
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 2, Bottom 5th -- John Farrell refuses to pull Aaron Laffey, clearly struggling after the long delay, and the Red Sox go to work on him. A leadoff walk to Ryan Lavarnway was followed up by back-to-back singles from Mike Aviles and Scott Podsednik, scoring Lavarnway. Laffey lucked into a pair when Jose Iglesias hit a flare towards first and Adam Lind was able to both stretch out to corral the ball on the fly and tag first for the double play, but a line drive off the bat of Pedro Ciriaco made it 5-2.
And that's when the rains came. One out from making the game official, we're back in a delay.
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 0, Mid 5th -- Andrew Miller enters for Alfredo Aceves post-delay and gets three quick outs, striking out Colby Rasmus in the process.
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 0, End 4th -- Jacoby Ellsbury breaks up Aaron Laffey's no-hitter with a leadoff single in the fourth, and then the game goes into a rain delay for nearly an hour. After the Sox get back, they waste little time in ending the inning. Dustin Pedroia pops out on the first pitch he sees, and while Mike Aviles gets hit by a perhaps-cold Laffey, he's out at second on the very next pitch as Mauro Gomez grounds into a double play.
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 0, Mid 4th -- Aceves gets the first two batters to go down on strikes before inducing a ground ball off the bat of Rajai Davis. Not too bad.
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 0, End 3rd -- Three innings in and the Red Sox are still without a hit against Aaron Laffey. This time it's Scott Podsednik, Jose Iglesias, and Pedro Ciriaco providing the outs, however--not exactly an intimidating bunch to begin with.
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 0, Mid 3rd -- Alfredo Aceves works around a leadoff single to keep the Blue Jays off the board. It's good to see him back where he's been most comfortable in his career: long relief.
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 0, End 2nd -- Ryan Lavarnway draws a two-out walk, but Anthony Gose helps to move this game along as rain threatens, sliding into the wall to make the grab on a Mike Aviles fly ball into difficult foul territory for the third out.
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 0, Mid 2nd -- A~nd Daisuke Matsuzaka is terrible. One-upping his awful performance on the road trip, Matsuzaka fails to even make it out of the second inning this time. It only takes him one pitch to give up a run on a solo shot put on a line into the Monster seats by Yunel Escobar. Two pitches later and he's allowed Kelly Johnson to reach first with a sharply hit single, and his fifth after that catches J.P. Arencibia's jersey. A double bounced over the head of Pedro Ciriaco by Adeiny Hechavarria scores both runners, and a single from Anthony Gose makes it 4-0
Daisuke finally records the first out on a fly ball to center, but it comes only after Gose has stolen second and moved to third when Lavarnway's throw caught him in the back, and so works as a sacrifice fly all-the-same. Colby Rasmus quickly follows the sacrifice with a single, and Matsuzaka is unceremoniously pulled back to the dugout for Alfredo Aceves. Luckily, the deluge ends there, courtesy of a baserunning mistake by Rasmus, who forgot there was just one out in the inning and found himself easily doubled up at first.
Red Sox 0, Blue Jays 0, End 1st -- However good Daisuke may be against the Blue Jays historically, the Red Sox are not particularly good against pitching in recent memory. Toronto has wisely chosen to have Aaron Laffey throw the ball home instead of setting up a tee, and so it goes that the Sox find themselves retired in order in the first.
Red Sox 0, Blue Jays 0, Mid 1st -- Daisuke looks surprisingly sharp in the top of the first, striking out both Rajai Davis and Adam Lind around a walk to Edwin Encarnacion to get through the frame without damage. Daisuke hasn't been good often, but the Jays are a team he historically dominates, so perhaps this is going to be his day?