BOSTON — Jose Bautista belted a three-run homer and R.A. Dickey pitched seven-plus strong innings to help the Toronto Blue Jays avoid a three-game sweep with a 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox Sunday at Fenway Park.
Dickey (12-12) won his second straight start while stretching his unbeaten string to four outings after allowing one run and six hits as the Blue Jays moved to within 5 1/2 games of Seattle for the American League’s second wild-card spot. Adam Lind recorded three hits while Kevin Pillar and Bautista contributed two apiece.
Xander Bogaerts drove in a run for Boston, which was without regulars Mike Napoli and Brock Holt because of illness as well as David Ortiz (scheduled day off). The Red Sox’s Rubby De La Rosa (4-6) extended his winless streak to five starts (0-2, 6.20 ERA) after allowing three runs and seven hits in four-plus innings.
After De La Rosa retired the first six Blue Jays, Toronto threatened in the third with runners at first and second with none out and loaded the bases with two away before Edwin Encarnacion struck out. The Blue Jays made more noise with three singles in the fourth — a pair with two out after a double play — but did not score.
Anthony Gose walked and Jose Reyes singled to lead off the fifth before Bautista extended his hitting streak to 11 games by belting a 2-0 curveball over the Green Monster in left — his 31st home run of the season — to chase De La Rosa.
On Saturday night, the Red Sox scored in each of the first four innings to back another strong start by Clay Buchholz and they held on to beat the Blue Jays 4-3.
Left fielder Yoenis Cespedes and catcher Christian Vazquez each had an RBI double for the Red Sox, who overcame an early deficit.