Baseball

Masataka Yoshida’s Hitting Streak to 13 Games: Red Sox to 8-3 Win over Blue Jays

Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports
May 3, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox left fielder Masataka Yoshida (7) bats against the Toronto Blue Jays during the third inning at Fenway Park.

12:28 JST, May 4, 2023

BOSTON (AP) — Enmanuel Valdez, Triston Casas and Masataka Yoshida each drove in two runs and the Boston Red Sox extended their winning streak to five games with an 8-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.

Nick Pivetta (2-2) went six innings and gave up three runs, including solo home runs by Daulton Varsho and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — whose shot in the third cleared the Green Monster and left Fenway Park.

Alek Manoah (1-2) allowed five runs, two earned, and eight hits in five innings.

Manoah held Boston hitless until there were two outs in the third, but encountered a rough stretch after getting hit in his right calf by a sharp line drive off the bat of Rafael Devers with one out in the fourth. Devers took second when catcher Alejandro Kirk fielded the carom and threw the ball into right field.

Devers advanced to third when Manoah’s pick-off attempt sailed into center and scored on Jarren Duran’s double. Casas’ single tied the game at 2.

Toronto took the lead in the fifth when Kevin Kiermaier led off with a double, took third on George Springer’s sacrifice fly and scored on a balk by Pivetta.

But the Red Sox went ahead 5-3 in the bottom of the inning by scoring three unearned runs off Manoah with two outs, including a two-run single by Valdez.

The teams combined for six errors, including four by Toronto that led to four unearned runs.

Blue Jays reliever Anthony Bass, who replaced Manoah, also took a line drive off his body in the sixth. Yoshida’s shot scored Connor Wong and extended Yoshida’s hitting streak to 13 games. Justin Turner’s single to center drove Bass from the game with Boston up 6-3.

Yoshida’s two-out RBI double in the seventh off Trevor Richards made it 7-3.

Boston added another run in the eighth when Casas reached on a one-out single to left, took second on left fielder Varsho’s throwing error and scored on Kiké Hernández’s single.

Boston reliever Kutter Crawford, who entered to start the eighth, left with one out in the ninth, appearing to slip on the mound. Ryan Brasier got the final two outs to seal the victory.