Bogaerts' Streak Ends, Blue Jays Beat Red Sox 5-2
BOSTON -- R.A. Dickey ended his drought against Boston and Edwin Encarnacion and Devon Travis hit two-run homers as the Toronto Blue Jays won their fourth straight game, a 5-2 decision over the Red Sox on Friday.
Boston's Xander Bogaerts, representing the tying run, came up with two out and two on in the ninth inning and struck out against Roberto Osuna on a 3-2 pitch after being ahead 3-0 -- ending the game and his 26-game hitting streak. Bogaerts was robbed of a hit on a nifty play by shortstop Darwin Barney in the first inning and had two walks and a strikeout. He swung at ball four with David Ortiz on deck.
Dickey, 4-0 in five starts against the Red Sox in 2014, had been 0-5 with a 5.19 ERA in nine starts since, opened with five hitless innings and allowed two hits and an unearned run in 6 2/3, sending the Red Sox to their third straight loss.
The win was also the first in four starts and only the second since his first turn of the season for Dickey (3-6). He walked five, struck out four and hit a batter with the only run scoring on a passed ball.
Three relievers finished up the Jays' 11th win in their last 14 games. The Red Sox scored a run off Joe Biagini in the eighth but Osuna got the last four outs for his 13th save in 14 chances. Osuna has thrown 17 straight scoreless innings.
Encarnacion crushed a two-run homer off loser David Price (7-2), who lost for the first time in five starts since teammate Dustin Pedroia picked up a flaw in his delivery.
Throwing a season-high 114 pitches and walking a season-high four in seven innings, Price fell to 17-3 lifetime against the Jays, the team he helped into the playoffs after arriving from Detroit last summer.
Travis, out until May 25 because of a shoulder surgery, ended an 11-pitch at-bat with a hefty two-run homer off Koji Uehara in the eighth for his first of the season.
Ortiz doubled off Dickey for the first Boston hit leading off the sixth and doubled in the eighth -- his 500th and 501st doubles in a Red Sox uniform.
The two homers were the eighth and ninth yielded by the Red Sox over their last two games as they dropped into a virtual tie with the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the American League East. Boston led the Orioles by three games before losing the last two in Baltimore.
Price, who allowed eight earned runs in his previous four starts. found himself behind 2-0 one out into the game. Josh Donaldson drew a one-out walk and Encarnacion, 10-for-44 with three homers lifetime against Price coming him, clobbered one to dead-center for his 11th home run of the season.
Dickey allowed a run without a hit in the bottom of the inning, Josh Thole's passed ball delivering Mookie Betts from third with the unearned run -- and the Jays got an unearned run of their own in the fourth. A throwing error by third baseman Travis Shaw led to Toronto's third run scoring on a double play grounder.
Two strikeouts in the fifth and Dickey was at 82 pitches with a no-hitter through five.
NOTES: Red Sox CF Jackie Bradley Jr. was activated from the paternity list after missing four games for the birth of his first child. LF Rusney Castillo sent back to Pawtucket to make room on the roster. While inactive, Bradley was named the American League Player of the month for May. ... Toronto RHP Marcus Stroman, who beat the Red Sox his last time out despite allowing 11 hits and seven earned runs in 5 1/3 innings, faces RHP Steven Wright in Saturday's second game of the series. Both pitchers have won their last two starts. Entering play Friday night, Wright had recorded all three of Boston's complete games this season. ... Toronto manager John Gibbons hinted his club will stick with its eight-man bullpen until SS Troy Tulowitzki (quad) returns from the disabled list next week. ... Friday night was Pride Night at Fenway Park.
