Red Sox Outlast Rain, Shutout Blue Jays

The rain came and went, but the Blue Jays offense never got the message that the game was on.

The Red Sox took the rubber game of the weekend series against the Jays with a solid 5-0 win thanks to another strong effort from Clay Buchholz and the improved Red Sox bullpen.

It took a while for the Red Sox lineup to wake up from the rain, as Shaun Marcum came out strong early with four no-hit innings to start the game. Things changed in a hurry come the fifth inning, though, as David Ortiz legged out a lead-off triple to get things started. Beltre didn't wait around, quickly lacing an RBI double to put the Red Sox on the board. Two batters later, and Bill Hall put an exclamation mark on the frame with a majestic home run up and over the Monster in left.

Buchholz, meanwhile, had a start very much indicative of his year. He allowed a few baserunners, gave up more walks than he should have, and had some leadoff trouble. But every time he worked out of it, taking advantage of the Blue Jays' free-swinging ways to pick up seven strikeouts and record six shutout innings, lowering his ERA to an amazing 2.26.

The Sox tacked on a couple of insurance runs in the late innings, but it wouldn't be necessary, as Daniel Bard kept the Jays in check with a two strikeout seventh, and Felix Doubront closed out the game with two very impressive innings.

Quite the rebound for the Red Sox after dropping the first game of the series so convincingly. The Sox may have given up eight more runs than they scored, but all that matters at the end of the day are the wins and losses.