BOSTON — Rick Porcello, trying to rebound from a disastrous first year in Boston, took a big step toward a comeback Friday night.
The right-hander, in the first year of a five-year, $82.5-million contract extension given to him before he went 9-15 in 2015 — before he ever threw a pitch for the Red Sox — handled the heavy hitting Toronto Blue Jays for 6 1/3 innings of a 5-3 victory.
Porcello (2-0) allowed a second-inning home run to Edwin Encarnacion (his first homer of the season) and that was the only hit for the Jays (5-6) until Encarnacion, who had all three Toronto hits, cracked a two-run shot in the seventh.
Porcello, who left one batter after Encarnacion’s two-run blast, struck out eight and walked one in his first victory at Fenway Park since last Sept. 7.
His effort coincided with the return of young catcher Christian Vazquez, activated from the disabled list before the game. Vazquez handled the pitcher, went 2-for-3 and scored two runs, and picked a runner off first base.
Junichi Tazawa, Koji Uehara and Craig Kimbrel worked the last 2 2/3 innings with Kimbrel surviving a two-out threat in the ninth to notch his second save in as many games. He dealt Justin Smoak his fourth strikeout of the game to end it with two on.
Travis Shaw’s two-run double off loser R.A. Dickey (1-2) capped a three-run first inning that also included an RBI double by David Ortiz.
Mookie Betts singled home a run in the second and Dustin Pedroia did the same in the sixth as the Red Sox improved to 5-4.
Dickey, 4-0 against the Red Sox in 2014, came in 0-4 with a 5.36 ERA in seven starts since. Those numbers got worse early as Boston scored four runs — two earned — in the first two innings.
He got the first two outs in the first, but Xander Bogaerts singled and scored when Ortiz doubled off the center-field wall. Hanley Ramirez struck out, but Toronto catcher Josh Thole could not handle the knuckleball and Ramirez hustled to first as Ortiz took third. Both scored when Shaw doubled to that wall in center.
Encarnacion’s homer got a run back, but Vazquez doubled and, one out later, scored from third on Betts’ single.
Vazquez, known for his defensive ability as a catcher, had ended the top of the second by picking Troy Tulowitzki off first base on a Porcello strikeout of Michael Saunders.
Dickey pitched out of a jam that included a throwing error by Josh Donaldson. Pedroia grounded back to Dickey and into a double play with first and third and one out in the fourth.
Jays manager John Gibbons added some levity to the evening when, coming out to call on ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte, he signaled with both hands. Venditte stranded two runners by retiring Brock Holt.
NOTES: LHP David Price, who is 16-2 lifetime against Toronto, makes his first start against the Jays since leaving for free agency when he faces RHP Marco Estrada in Saturday’s second game of a series that ends with the Monday morning Boston Marathon game. The Red Sox had just finished playing the 2013 morning game when the bombs during the Boston Marathon went off not far from Fenway. “The thing that we take away from it was how much we came together as a city and the unity that you felt,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said Friday. “In many ways, it was something that propelled us (to a World Series title.)” … Red Sox 3B Pablo Sandoval will see Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion regarding Sandoval’s injured left shoulder. “There’s a great deal going on in his left shoulder from a medical perspective,” said team president Dave Dombrowski
White Sox 1, Rays 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Great baserunning by veteran Jimmy Rollins and a clutch hit by Melky Cabrera helped the Chicago White Sox outduel the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.
Cabrera’s RBI single in the ninth inning gave White Sox pitcher Chris Sale all the support he needed in a 1-0 victory over the Rays in the first contest of a three-game series.
Rollins started the inning with a single off of Alex Colome (1-1) that landed just in front of the glove of Tampa Bay leftfielder Desmond Jennings’ glove. The Rays unsuccessfully challenged the ruling.
Following a strikeout by Jose Abreu, Todd Frazier hit a towering shot to right center. Right fielder Corey Dickerson made the catch but Rollins tagged up and went to second. Cabrera then lined a single to right field to drive in Rollins.
That made a winner out of Sale (3-0), who threw his first complete game of the year but needed a ninth-inning leaping catch at the wall by Cabrera to save the shut out.
He allowed two hits and struck out nine in the victory. At one point, Sale sat down 16 straight Rays’ batters and also retired the final seven.
Rays starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi tried to keep up with Sale. He went seven innings, allowing four hits, striking out six and walking one. After allowing a single to Melky Cabrera in the fourth, Odorizzi retired the final 11 Chicago batters he faced in his longest outing of the season.
Sale allowed only a single to Desmond Jennings in the second inning through the first five innings. He appeared to get stronger as the game continued and needed only five pitches to get through the fourth inning.