After being swept by the New York Mets last weekend, the Toronto Blue Jays will aim to finish a sweep of their own when they conclude a four-game road series against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday afternoon.
Toronto set up the opportunity for its second sweep in three series with a 2-1 Wednesday win in 11 innings. In a game that featured just 10 combined hits, the Jays again were led from the mound as Kevin Gausman struck out 10 over eight innings of four-hit ball.
Blue Jays opponents have scored two or fewer runs eight times this season, and the team’s top four hitters did all the damage Wednesday, with leadoff hitter Bo Bichette’s sacrifice fly for an RBI making the ultimate difference.
“I know it’s April, but that’s a really good win,” Toronto manager John Schneider said.
On the day that his 14-year, $500 million contract extension — the third-largest deal in baseball history — was made official, Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. recorded three hits and scored a run. It was his fourth multi-hit game in the last six, and the 26-year-old is batting .288 this season.
“If I tell you that it’s not a big relief, I’d be lying to you. It is,” Guerrero said through an interpreter about the extension. “It’s always been my goal to be here, and I feel like I accomplished that. I am very, very happy to stay here and be a Blue Jay.”
Like Gausman, Chris Bassitt (1-0, 0.71 ERA) has exemplified Toronto’s outstanding starting pitching in the early going. In his first two starts, the 36-year-old has allowed only one earned run and struck out 16 across 12 2/3 innings, and he is scheduled to pitch Thursday against Boston right-hander Walker Buehler (1-1, 8.68).
Bassitt, who spun 6 2/3 innings of shutout, four-hit ball with nine strikeouts in a Saturday no-decision against the Mets (the Jays lost 3-2), is 2-2 with a 2.40 ERA in seven career starts against Boston. In four starts against the Red Sox last season, he lost two and took two no-decisions.
Following a five-game winning streak, the Red Sox offense has just four runs over the first three games of this series.
On Wednesday, Rafael Devers continued his hot streak — 13-for-30 since an 0-for-19 start — with two doubles. But the rest of manager Alex Cora’s lineup has to turn things around, especially after a 14-strikeout night.
“We just have to make adjustments,” Cora said. “I trust our players, I trust this group. It’s one bad night. We’ve got to show up (Thursday) and try to win a game.”
A reigning World Series champion with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Buehler has struggled in his first two regular-season starts in a Red Sox uniform.
Buehler earned the win in a 13-9 victory over St. Louis last Friday in Boston’s home opener, but it was a five-run first inning from the offense that helped him overcome allowing five runs on seven hits across five frames. He lasted just 4 1/3 innings of a 4-3 loss on March 29 at the Texas Rangers.
“It’s been so long since I’ve been so dominant as I want to be or been the guy that I want to be,” Buehler said. “I’ve had it for two or three starts at a time throughout the past year and a half, especially in the playoffs. … I’m not going to keep hanging my hat on the fact I showed up in October. I want to show up in April, May, June, July and August and go about it that way.”
Buehler dealt seven shutout innings in his lone career start against Toronto in 2019. He took a no-decision in a 2-0 win for the Dodgers.
–Field Level Media
