BOSTON — John Farrell was asked if Rick Porcello’s strong performance Wednesday night could be the start of something good for the beleaguered Boston pitching staff.
“Ask me in another five or six days,” the Red Sox manager said with a laugh after Porcello threw seven strong innings and Hanley Ramirez hit a record-tying 10th April homer, leading Boston to a 4-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in the deciding game of a three-game series.
“It’s a very encouraging sign.”
The Red Sox had allowed 34 runs in their previous three games. The starters yielded five runs or more in eight of the team’s first 21 games. An outing like Porcello’s was truly needed.
However, there were games like this before, and consistency remains a huge problem for the 12-10 team.
It isn’t a problem for Ramirez, who, starting his second tour with the team he came up with, matched David Ortiz’s 2006 club record for homers before May 1.
“Oh really? I hit 10 home runs in April? I thought I suck in April,” Ortiz said, laughing.
Turning serious, he said he had a spring training conversation with Ramirez and third baseman Pablo Sandoval — the club’s big free agent signees — and told them they are better than they showed previously.
“Every time Papi tells you something, you have to pick your head up and listen,” said Ramirez, whose two-run homer off an R.A. Dickey knuckleball scored Ortiz and capped a three-run third inning that erased an early 1-0 deficit. “He told us not to try to do too much.”
Ramirez, who said his teammates talked during the day about him tying the record, equaled his own personal best for any month. He has 22 RBIs and also has five homers in the past six games.
“Fun to watch,” Farrell said.
Porcello, who signed a four-year, $82 million contract extension before the season, gave up one run on two hits. He walked two and struck out six while evening his record at 2-2.
Dickey (0-3) gave up four runs in seven innings during his fifth try at his first win.
“I made a mistake to Hanley, 0-2, and it cost us,” Dickey said. “But outside of that, I felt like I was pretty on point for most of the night. That’s a good lineup. You know when you’re coming into Fenway Park that you’re going to be in for a battle, and we were tonight. Rick pitched well.”
Toronto manager John Gibbons said, “Dickey pitched good enough to win. We just couldn’t get anything going. To hold them to four runs in Fenway Park is a pretty good feat.”
Porcello missed first base while covering to help the Jays to their run in the second inning. However, he ended that inning with a double play — after a big fielding play by center fielder Mookie Betts cut a runner down at third — and was then perfect through the sixth.
Porcello stranded two runners in the seventh, then gave way to right-hander Junichi Tazawa, who worked a scoreless eighth against a team that hurt him previously. Closer Koji Uehara struck out the side in the ninth for his fourth save.
In addition to two big fielding plays, Betts singled home a run in the seventh and almost had a second RBI. Catcher Josh Thole appeared to block the path of Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts to the plate before receiving the throw from right fielder Michael Saunders and making the tag. After a lengthy review (the umpires had to leave the field because their headsets didn’t work), the call was confirmed.
In the second inning, Betts threw out Saunders at third on what should have been a single as the first run of the game scored. Saunders held to see if Bogaerts would catch the ball.
Then with one out in the third, Betts went back and made a leaping catch on second baseman Devon Travis’ drive, tumbling into the center field wall and holding on.
NOTES: Boston DH David Ortiz went 2-for-3 against Toronto RHP R.A. Dickey. He is 8-for-21 (.381) lifetime against knuckleballer. … Red Sox 1B Mike Napoli returned after missing two games because of illness. He went 0-for-3. … Toronto CF Kevin Pillar, fresh off a three-hit night that followed a two-hit game in the series opener, moved from eighth to fifth in the lineup and went 1-for-4. … Boston designated RHP Anthony Varvaro for assignment and optioned OF Jackie Bradley Jr. to Triple-A. LHP Tommy Layne and RHP Dalier Hinojosa were recalled. … The Blue Jays open a four-game series in Cleveland on Thursday night, with Toronto LHP Daniel Norris (1-1) facing Indians LHP TJ House (0-3). … The Red Sox are off Thursday before hosting the New York Yankees for three games starting Friday.