The Red Sox (26-12) look to bounce back after last’s night’s draining 12-inning loss against a confident Blue Jays (21-18) team this afternoon in Toronto (4:05 p.m., NESN).

About today’s game: David Price (2-4, 5.11) returns to the rotation (and the Rogers Centre), and nobody knows what to expect before tonight’s start. It would be good if he could survive into at least the sixth inning, because even if Chris Sale was throwing bombs through nine innings, the bullpen doesn’t want another long bailout. The good news is he faces Marco Estrada (2-2, 5.21 ERA), who’s also been pounded off the pitching island repeatedly this year, once by the Red Sox themselves. Both pitchers have been cast away from their historic roles and generally sort of lost, and, in Price’s case, he has shrunk our collective patience to zero. I really thought I’d be the last person standing behind him, but I’m not, and I’d be happy to be wrong.

Christian Vazquez gets the start behind the plate today, and Jackie Bradley Jr.’s back in center field. For the Blue Jays, Russell Martin starts at third. Huh.

About last night’s game: I skipped a game preview and it was a stupid disaster. I learned my lesson. Read Matt’s well-titled recap here.

Forecast: Canadian.

Today’s reading: SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. You will be quizzed tomorrow.

A good tweet from yesterday:

LINEUPS