KEN POWTAK
Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons knows his team keeps digging a deeper hole with each loss. Soon, he knows, they’ll run out of time.
Clay Buchholz had his third straight solid start and the Boston Red Sox beat Toronto 4-3 Saturday night, damaging the Blue Jays’ fading playoff hopes.
“We can’t lose too many more, that’s for sure,” Gibbons said. “But they’re all different. Every day’s a new day.”
Colby Rasmus had a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the seventh for the Blue Jays, who began the day five games behind Seattle for the AL’s second wild card.
“We’re still in this thing. We’re hanging on by a thread,” Gibbons said. “They’ve been two close ballgames, they could have gone either way, but we just came up short.”
J.A. Happ (9-9) gave up four runs — single ones in the first four innings — on seven hits in six innings.
“They did a good job of putting the bat on the ball,” he said of the early innings. “Maybe I need to rethink the game plan going in.”
Buchholz (7-8) gave up two runs and four hits in 6 1-3 innings to help Boston get its second straight win against Toronto. He struck out five and walked two.
Edward Mujica, Boston’s fourth reliever, got the final two outs for his fourth save.
The Red Sox scored single runs in the first four innings off Happ after the Blue Jays jumped ahead 1-0 on Dioner Navarro’s RBI double.
Dustin Pedroia’s run-scoring grounder tied it in the first and Boston moved ahead on Will Middlebrooks’ RBI single in the second. Yoenis Cespedes had an RBI double in the third and Christian Vazquez added an RBI double.
Buchholz left with a 4-1 lead in the seventh before Craig Breslow gave up Rasmus’ homer that hooked around the right-field foul pole.
In his last start, Buchholz shut out Tampa Bay with a three-hitter on Sunday. On Aug. 25 in Toronto, he held Toronto scoreless over eight innings before leaving with the bases loaded in the ninth. The bullpen allowed all three runners to score before Boston pulled out a 4-3 win in extra innings.
Mookie Betts made a running catch, going to his knees to snag a bloop in short center to save a run, ending the eighth.
Buchholz gave up two hits in the first two innings then retired the 11 straight batters before Jose Bautista’s leadoff double in the sixth. After walking the next batter, Buchholz helped himself by grabbing Adam Lind’s grounder to the mound and firing to second, starting a 1-6-3 double play. Navarro then lined out to center.
NICE GRAB
Bautista made a nice running grab, adding in a slight leap just in front of the right-field wall to take away extra base hits from Middlebroooks.
HOT NAVARRO
Navarro went 2-for-4 and drove in a run. He’s hit safely in 9 of his last 10, going 13 for 30 with four doubles, two homers and eight RBIs.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: Kevin Pillar started in left field a day after Melky Cabrera was lost for the season with a fractured right pinkie finger. Cabrera, a big part of the lineup, was second in the majors with 171 hits when he was injured, batting .301 with 19 homers and 73 RBIs.
Red Sox: INF/OF and leadoff hitter Brock Holt, who left Friday’s win early with dizziness, was out of the lineup, but manager John Farrell said he was available to play. Farrell said he decided to get an extra right-handed batter in the lineup against left-handed starter Happ. First baseman Mike Napoli left because an illness after the second inning.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays: Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (11-12, 3.94 ERA) is scheduled to start Sunday in the series finale. He has won two of his last three starts, going seven strong innings, allowing just two runs and two hits in his last one on Sept. 2.
Red Sox: Rubby De La Rosa (4-5, 3.89) is slated to get the start. He’s winless in his last four starts.
NICE DELIVERY
The three children of a Kevin Houston, a Navy SEAL from Cape Cod that was killed in Afghanistan in early August, delivered the game ball to the pitcher’s mound before the start. They received a standing ovation.
DELAYED START
The start was delayed 72 minutes by a thunderstorm that didn’t bring much rain, but had a lot of thunder and lightning.
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