Blue Jays fall collectively flat in opener versus Red Sox

The Toronto Blue Jays dropped their series opener against the Boston Red Sox 11-4 on Monday at Fenway Park. Starter Mark Buehrle failed to escape the fourth inning despite his extra days of rest, and the Blue Jays bullpen collectively stumbled behind him. Toronto now sees their slim lead in the AL East shrink to a half-game.

11. 14. 4. 39. Final

Game Notes:

Josh Donaldson wasted no time getting the Blue Jays out ahead, smashing a solo shot over the Green Monster in the top of the first. It was his 37th home run of the season, and his 100th career.
Ryan Goins gave us a scare in the second inning, running gingerly up the first base line on a double-play ball. He didn’t look right after the play, but remained in the game.
Boston moved ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the third, as the Blue Jays set their infield back with runners on second and third. This allowed a slow grounder from Xander Bogaerts to bring in Jackie Bradley Jr. David Ortiz would then bounce one off the Monster for his second double of the game to score Mookie Betts.
Mark Buehrle just wasn’t right on the mound. He lasted just 3.1 innings, making this his shortest outing of the 2015 season.
Justin Smoak brought the score back to 5-2 with a home run wrapped around Pesky’s Pole in right field, his 14th of the season.
Jackie Bradley Jr. stayed hot in the 6th with a home run to left off of Ryan Tepera, pushing the Red Sox lead out to 7-2. Liam Hendriks would soon take over and surrender an RBI double to Xander Bogaerts, cashing in Betts once again.
With Jeff Francis on the mound in the eighth, the bad news kept flowing. Travis Shaw took Francis deep to right field for a two-run home run. As you can see, not much went right on Monday.

Blue Jays Grades:

The Bringer of Rain kickstarted the Blue Jays early, but his 3-for-4 night went to waste in this one. It wasn’t a total power outage for the Jays, but a handful of ill-timed double plays kept them grounded.. Game Ball. Josh Donaldson. OFFENSE . C

F. Buehrle couldn’t get it together on Monday. The lefty wasn’t able to miss a bat, and surrendered five earned runs on nine hits while last just 3.1 innings. Between he, <a href=. . Mark Buehrle. STARTING PITCHER

F. <a href=. Game Ball. Loup, Tepera, Hendriks, Francis. BULLPEN

MVJ: Josh Donaldson

Next: Can less be more for the Blue Jays starting rotation?

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