Red Sox Lose To Blue Jays, 4-3
BOSTON -- Ezekiel Carrera's sacrifice fly in the ninth inning was the difference in the Toronto Blue Jays' 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on a drizzly Saturday night at Fenway Park.
Kevin Pillar had three RBIs for Toronto (88-73), which tied Baltimore for the top American League wild card spot after the Orioles' 7-3 loss to the New York Yankees earlier in the day.
Chris Young drove in a pair of runs for AL East champion Boston (93-68), which trails its American League Division Series opponent Cleveland by a 1/2 game. The Indians earned a 6-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.
A win by Cleveland on Sunday would give it home field advantage for the series with Boston.
Roberto Osuna (4-3) took the win with two innings of one-run ball after blowing a save.
Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ departed after 6 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and five walks with a strikeout in a no-decision.
Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez surrendered three runs on three hits and five walks, but struck out nine in a five-inning no-decision.
The young left hander has struck out 22 batters over his last 10 1/3 innings in two starts after striking out a career-high 13 last time out against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Craig Kimbrel (2-6) entered in a non-save situation in the ninth and gave up the decisive run on Carrera's sacrifice fly.
Pillar shot a grounder up the middle into center field with one out in the sixth to allow Russell Martin to score from second base and break a 2-2 tie.
Mookie Betts doubled and Hanley Ramirez walked to lead off the Red Sox eighth, leading the Blue Jays to turn to closer Roberto Osuna for a six-out save.
It looked like Osuna would escape with the lead after getting Brock Holt to ground into a double play, but an Osuna balk allowed Betts to trot home from third to tie it.
Boston turned to Kimbrel in the ninth, but the All-Star closer faltered. Kimbrel walked Michael Saunders to begin the inning, and Pillar moved him over with a sacrifice bunt.
Kimbrel threw a wild pitch to allow Saunders to move to third, and Carrera flied out to left to allow Saunders to score the winning run.
David Ortiz received a standing ovation before working a one-out walk in his first at-bat in the Boston first, but was tagged out at second base on Betts' groundout.
Ramirez coaxed another walk from Happ to load the bases for Chris Young, who delivered a two-run single to shallow center field.
Rodriguez mirrored Happ's shaky start, loading the bases with three straight walks to open the Toronto second.
Melvin Upton Jr. struck out looking, but Pillar found the gap in left-center for a game-tying, two-run single.
Rodriguez escaped the jam with limited damage by getting Carrera and Devon Travis to strike out swinging.
Ortiz hit a one-out single to right in the fifth and was removed for pinch runner Travis Shaw.
He received another ovation and tipped his helmet to the crowd as he lumbered back to the dugout. Ortiz finished the night 1-for-2 with a walk.
