BALTIMORE– Jackie Bradley Jr. and Sandy Leon both hit two-run homers, and David Price threw six strong innings as the Boston Red Sox scored their sixth straight win with a rain-shortened 8-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.
The game was stopped after six innings due to rain and, after a delay of 1 hour, 17 minutes, was called final.
The Red Sox (67-52) moved into second place with this victory, which wrapped up a sweep of the two-game series with the Orioles. They now are one game behind Toronto (69-52), and Baltimore (66-53) slipped back into third place, two games out.
Bradley finished with four RBIs, as he hit his homer in the third and added a two-run double in the sixth. Leon added his two-run homer in the fifth. Mookie Betts went 2-for-3 with three runs scored.
David Ortiz added his 1,496th RBI as a member of the Red Sox with a seventh inning double. If he reaches 1,500, Ortiz would join Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski as the only Boston players to get to that level.
Price (11-8) allowed one run on four hits in the six innings, winning his second straight start. The left-hander struck out four without a walk and is starting to pitch more like early in the season when Price started 7-1 before stumbling.
Baltimore starter Dylan Bundy (6-4) ran into trouble for the first time since his first start. The rookie allowed the two homers and five runs in 4 1/3 innings.
The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the second on a Travis Shaw RBI single. Shaw’s hit drove in Bradley, who was hit by a Bundy pitch with one out in the inning.
They almost added to the lead but Baltimore left fielder Hyun Soo Kim made a diving catch of a Dustin Pedroia line drive with two outs and the bases loaded. That catch proved even more important when Davis tied the game with his solo homer in the bottom of the inning.
Boston then used its power to take the lead. Bradley gave the Red Sox a 3-1 lead in the third with his two-run, two-out homer off Bundy.
Leon stretched it to 5-1 in the fifth with his two-run shot, and that ended Bundy’s night.
Jays 7, Yankees 4
NEW YORK — J.A. Happ pitched 7 1/3 innings and became the first 17-game winner in the major leagues Wednesday afternoon as the Toronto Blue Jays held on for a 7-4 victory over the New York Yankees.
Melvin Upton Jr. hit a three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who have scored 19 runs since Tuesday’s 42-minute rain delay. Ezequiel Carrera had an RBI double, Darwin Barney had a two-run double and Russell Martin added an RBI single as Toronto became the sixth team to win five straight series against the Yankees in New York.
Happ (17-3) allowed three home runs for the second time this season and sixth time in his career. He won his 11th straight decision despite allowing four runs and seven hits.
The Blue Jays won a game started by Happ for the 12th straight time and he became the third Toronto left-hander to reach 17 wins, joining David Wells and Jimmy Key.