Clay Buchholz had a big early lead to work with and he still couldn’t deliver a victory for the Boston Red Sox.

Spotted four runs in the second inning, Buchholz gave it back in the third and the Toronto Blue Jays went on to beat the Red Sox 11-8 on Tuesday night.

“Whenever your team gives you a four-run lead, you’re supposed to come out a lot better than that,” said Buchholz, who lost his third straight decision. “All the contact that they made, they hit the ball hard and it wasn’t at any of our defenders in the field. I’ve got to do a better job than that.”

One night after Mookie Betts won the game with a ninth-inning RBI single, the Red Sox couldn’t overcome a poor start from Buchholz (1-3). He allowed five runs in the top of the third and got just eight outs in all, finishing with four earned runs on six hits and a walk while striking out four.

“We’d score and (he) couldn’t put up a zero to maintain any momentum,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “Not a good night from the mound.”

Jose Bautista had an RBI in Toronto’s five-run third inning, another in a three-run fourth and then added a homer. Josh Donaldson had three hits, including a homer, and Kevin Pillar also had three of Toronto’s 17 hits.

Marco Estrada (1-0) pitched three innings of hitless relief for the win. Brett Cecil pitched the ninth for his first save.

The Red Sox took a 4-0 lead against Drew Hutchison in the second.

The Blue Jays led 10-6 when Aaron Loup struck out Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia to start the eighth. But David Ortiz doubled, and Hanley Ramirez hit his 200th career homer to make it 10-8, then Pablo Sandoval singled — his fourth hit of the game.

Liam Hendriks got Allen Craig on a first-pitch one-hopper back to the mound to end the inning. Donaldson added a solo homer in the ninth to make it 11-8.