By Canadian Press

Vázquez’s HR in 10th caps Red Sox rally past Blue Jays 7-5

Jun 21, 2019 | 9:52 PM

BOSTON — Christian Vázquez hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning to cap Boston’s comeback from four runs down as the Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-5 on Friday night.

Boston trailed 5-1 before scoring three runs in the seventh on Andrew Benintendi’s RBI single and J.D. Martinez’s two-run single, and tying it in the eighth on pinch-hitter Rafael Devers’ run-scoring single.

Jordan Romano (0-1) got two quick outs in the 10th before hitting Marco Hernández with a pitch. Vázquez then drove a 3-2 pitch out to right for his ninth homer of the season to give the Red Sox their eighth win in nine games.

Brandon Workman (6-1) pitched a scoreless 10th for Boston, getting himself out of a jam with a nice fielding play on a grounder headed for centre field by Eric Sogard, who had four singles in the game.

Randal Grichuk homered for Toronto, which got six strong innings from rookie Trent Thornton but couldn’t hold off the late rally by the Red Sox.

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Freddy Galvis hit a two-run single in the first as the Blue Jays got to Chris Sale early. Grichuk hit a two-run homer in the third and added an RBI single in the seventh to put Toronto up 5-1.

Boston began its comeback in the bottom of the seventh when Mookie Betts tripled to the triangle in centre to start and scored on Benintendi’s hit. Xander Bogaerts doubled and Martinez followed with his single to pull the Red Sox within one.

In the eighth, Jackie Bradley Jr. tripled with one out against David Phelps and scored the tying run on Devers’ hit to right.

Sale lasted just five innings. He struck out eight, but struggled with his control at crucial times. He didn’t retire Toronto in order until the fourth and threw 101 pitches in just five innings while giving up four runsand seven hits with two walks.

Thornton pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and eight hits, with one walk and seven strikeouts.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: Devers was out of the starting lineup two days after leaving a game at Minnesota in the fifth inning with tightness in his right hamstring. … Manager Alex Cora said LHP Eduardo Rodríguez (8-4) and RHP Rick Porcello (5-6) will be the starters when the Red Sox play the New York Yankees next weekend in London.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: Have not announced a starter for Saturday’s game. RHP Edwin Jackson was next up in the rotation before going on the injured list Tuesday with a lower-back strain.

Red Sox: LHP Brian Johnson (1-1, 10.00 ERA) gets his second start of the season. Johnson pitched three innings Sunday at Baltimore and didn’t figure in the decision.

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More AP baseball coverage: www.apnews.com/MLB and www.twitter.com/AP_Sports

Doug Alden, The Associated Press