BOSTON — Josh Donaldson homered and drove in three runs, powering the Toronto Blue Jays past the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox 6-4 on Monday night.
Boston’s six-game winning streak was snapped and its magic number to clinch its second straight division title remained at three. The Red Sox lead the second-place New York Yankees, who beat Kansas City earlier in the day, by four games with six remaining.
TUESDAY'S GAME
WHO: Toronto Blue Jays (Happ 9-11) at Boston Red Sox (Sale 17-7)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
TELEVISION: NESN
Eduardo Nunez and Mookie Betts both left with injuries for Boston. Nunez aggravated a right knee injury that sidelined him for 13 games, and Betts came out with pain in his left wrist.
Nunez fouled off a pitch his second time up and went to the ground in pain. He finished the at-bat with a lineout to third, but barely got out of the box and was unable to put much weight on his knee.
Ryan Goins hit a solo homer and Teoscar Hernandez had a two-run double for the Blue Jays. Brett Anderson (2-2) allowed three runs in five innings.
Red Sox lefty Drew Pomeranz (16-6) had his shortest start of the season, giving up five runs and seven hits in two innings. He had lost only once in his last 18 outings, holding opponents to three runs or fewer in 16 of those games.
Betts drove in two runs for the Red Sox, going over the 100-RBI mark for the second consecutive season. Andrew Benintendi had a pinch-hit solo homer.
Betts, 24, has 101 RBIs and 98 runs scored this season. Last year, the right fielder drove in 113 and scored 122. The only Red Sox player with multiple 100/100 seasons before turning 25 was Hall of Famer Ted Williams, from 1939-42.
Roberto Osuna got three outs for his 38th save.
Toronto slugger Jose Bautista was ejected by plate umpire Chad Fairchild after getting called out on strikes.
Coming off an 8-1 road trip that helped them maintain control of the AL East, the Red Sox fell into a hole early.
The Blue Jays chased Pomeranz with four runs in the second to take a 5-2 lead when Hernandez and Donaldson each hit a two-run double.
Donaldson homered about a third of the way up a light stanchion in left-center in the first.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.