The Blue Jays had 29 more home runs than the second place Red Sox coming into Wednesday's game. The Sox did their best to close that gap some, launching four long balls as part of a 13-hit, 10-run attack against the Blue Jays.
Leading the charge was Bill Hall, who hit the Sox' first home run leading off the second inning to give them a 2-1 lead after the sides had exchanged odd runs in the first (the Red Sox scoring on three walks and a hit batsman, and the Jays scoring thanks to an error and a passed ball). He followed it up in his second at bat of the night by working six pitches out of Shaun Marcum before launching the seventh pitch into the seats for his second shot, putting the Sox on top 4-1.
J.D. Drew and Adrian Beltre added one and three run bombs respectively, while Mike Lowell reached base four times on the night. It was an absolute beatdown against one of the better pitchers in the American League.
But the Sox wouldn't really need all that much, because Clay Buchholz was, simply, on. He didn't strike out too many guys (four), and did scatter a pair of walks, but he threw some filthy pitches, keeping the Jays to weak contact and allowing only one unearned run over another eight dominant innings against the Jays.
Dustin Richardson closed out the ninth to give the Red Sox the series win over the Blue Jays. Toronto has been a nice place to play for Boston this year--hopefully it will continue to be tomorrow, as John Lackey takes on rookie pitcher Brad Mills (no, not that Brad Mills).