BOSTON — Aaron Sanchez learned not to let little things bother him.
Sanchez allowed two hits in seven innings of one-run ball, and Jose Bautista drove in two runs with a homer and a double to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a 5-3 win Sunday over the Boston Red Sox.
Cruising with a no-hit bid two outs into the fifth, Sanchez gave up a broken-bat single to Marco Hernandez. He dropped his head a bit and muttered.
A stolen base and an RBI single later, he was back in the dugout. It didn’t affect the rest of his outing.
“I think that was a big learning curve. That only happened a start ago,” the 23-year-old right-hander said. “For me, it’s going back out there, attacking the zone and not letting something affect me like I did my last start.”
Toronto Manager John Gibbons noticed the maturity, too.
“I’ve seen young guys that give up a hit and give up a run, and the next thing you know they’ve imploded,” he said. “That stood out to me. I’ve seen it too many times before.”
Edwin Encarnacion added two singles and an RBI for the Blue Jays, who had lost two straight and were 1-4 against the Red Sox. Kevin Pillar had three singles and made two nice catches in center after being dropped from the leadoff spot to eighth in the batting order.
Boston had won three straight but couldn’t do much at the plate until Travis Shaw hit a two-run homer in the night off closer Roberto Osuna.
The teams meet in the finale of the four-game series Monday in Boston’s annual Patriots Day game, which is scheduled for an 11:05 a.m. and coincides with the running of the Boston Marathon.
Sanchez (1-0) struck out seven and walked four.
Steven Wright (0-2) had his second good start against the Blue Jays in eight days, but again got little offensive support. The knuckleballer gave up two runs and six hits in six innings, struck out six and walked none.
“They pitched better,” Wright said. “(Sanchez) was nasty. He was throwing upper 90s. He was hitting his spots, changing his speeds really well.”
After scoring just five run the previous two days, the Blue Jays took a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Bautista’s homer caromed off the left-field foul pole. Toronto followed with three straight singles, with Chris Colabello driving in a run.
Hernandez, making his major league debut, had his soft liner drop into left in the fifth when his bat shattered and went back into the new protective screen along the first-base line. He stole second and scored on Mookie Betts’ single.
Josh Donaldson’s RBI double off the Green Monster made it 3-1 in the seventh. Encarnacion had his RBI single later in the inning.
GOOD DEBUT
Red Sox Manager John Farrell was happy with Hernandez’s first game. He was 1 for 2 with a walk.
“I don’t think the moment or the day was something that he didn’t handle emotionally,” the manager said. “He gets a good read to get the stolen base. He advances on an error, scores. But I thought he took some good swings, controlled the count with the base on balls. A very good first day.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: Colabello was hit on the head by an 87 mph fastball from Wright. After being seated on the ground for a few minutes and checked out by a trainer, he got up and trotted to first.
Red Sox: Second baseman Dustin Pedroia was given the day off, and Hernandez played second and batted ninth. Left fielder Chris Young also was inserted into the lineup to give Brock Holt a break.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays: Left-hander J.A. Happ (0-0, 3.00 ERA) hopes to keep his string of solid starts going Monday. He’s given up two runs or fewer in each of his two starts.
Red Sox: Right-hander Clay Buchholz (0-1, 10.00) has allowed five runs in each of his two starts.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story