BOSTON — Attempting to rebound from one of his worst starts of the season — when he gave up five runs in just two innings at Detroit on July 15 — Toronto left-hander Francisco Liriano instead had an even shorter start Thursday afternoon against the Boston Red Sox.
But Toronto’s offense was led by Justin Smoak’s two home runs and three RBIs, as the Blue Jays beat the Red Sox 8-6.
Liriano lasted just 1 2/3 innings, giving up three runs, two earned, at Fenway Park.
“Didn’t start out real good,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “(The bullpen) carried a big workload, but they were all good.
“Any time a starter comes out early, you know it’s going to turn the game.”
But Red Sox starter Doug Fister also struggled, lasting just 4 1/3 innings. He gave up six runs on seven hits. He allowed four walks in his outing — all in the third inning. He had not allowed more than three walks in his four previous outings this season.
“The strike zone began to elude him,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “This is one of the rare games that the number of walks issued today is a rarity.”
It came down to mechanics, said Fister, who fell to 0-4.
“I’ve been working on a few things and seeing some results,” he said. “I was down in the zone a lot today and that was really a focus and some of that was a little bit too much and then that’s where the walks came from.”
Toronto opened the scoring in the first inning when Russell Martin doubled and scored on Josh Donaldson’s single to right.
The Red Sox came back with three in the second, capped by Mookie Betts’ two-out, two-run single.
Trailing 3-1, the Blue Jays batted around in the third, scoring four runs on two hits and four walks. Steve Pearce and Ryan Goins each hit two-run singles in the inning. Red Sox second baseman Brock Holt lost Pearce’s pop-up in the sun.
“I don’t care how hard it’s hit, it’s a two-RBI knock,” Pearce said. “Then Goins comes right behind me, keeps things rolling. We’ve had a lot of things going against us, so it’s nice to finally have something go for us.”
Smoak’s 25th homer of the season, on Fister’s first pitch of the fifth, put Toronto ahead 6-3. The Blue Jays added a run in the sixth when Smoak’s two-out single off Kyle Martin scored Darwin Barney, who led off the inning with a walk.
Boston cut its deficit to one in the seventh on a three-run homer by Dustin Pedroia, who was serving as the designated hitter for the first time this season. The homer was his sixth of the season.
Smoak led off the ninth with his second homer of the game, his sixth career multi-homer game and second this season.
Right-hander Dominic Leone relieved Liriano and earned the win, improving to 2-0. Roberto Osuna pitched a scoreless ninth, with two strikeouts, for his 24th save.
On Wednesday night, Drew Pomeranz became Boston’s second 10-game winner, and Dustin Pedroia drove in three runs, powering the Red Sox to a 5-1 victory over the Blue Jays.
Pomeranz (10-4) allowed only an unearned run — keyed by Pedroia’s first error in 115 games — and three hits in 6 2/3 innings en route to his fourth consecutive win. He is 7-1 in his past eight decisions since a dugout confrontation with manager John Farrell.
The Red Sox (54-42) are 9-2 in Pomeranz’s past 11 starts, and he has beaten the last-place Jays twice this month.
Pomeranz’s 6 2/3 innings helped a tired bullpen. Heath Hembree and the just-recalled Ben Taylor finished.
Deven Marrero and Pedroia both had two-out, two-run singles in a four-run second inning aided by a Josh Donaldson error. Pedroia, who has 10 RBIs during an eight-game hitting streak, then delivered another two-out RBI single off Aaron Sanchez (1-3) in the fourth.
Pedroia collected his third and fourth two-out hits with runners in scoring position in the first three games of the series. He is 18-for-38 (.487) with two outs and runners in scoring position this season.
Sanchez, 15-2 last season before suffering through an injury-plagued 2017, lasted four innings and saw his four-game winning streak against the Red Sox snapped.
The Blue Jays (43-51) fell 10 games behind Boston and two games behind the fourth-place Baltimore Orioles in the East.
The Red Sox scored four runs in the second inning despite several baserunning mistakes — one leading to a double play. Marrero’s bouncing single up the middle brought home the first two runs, and Pedroia delivered the next two.
Pomeranz got double-play grounders in the second and third innings.
Pedroia’s second RBI hit was a roller to short that scored Mookie Betts from second in the fourth. Troy Tulowitzki charged Pedroia’s softly hit grounder and tried to barehand the ball before it got by him.
Pedroia’s error led to Jose Bautista’s sacrifice fly that got the Blue Jays on the board in the fifth.
Pedroia’s 114-game streak without an error was the longest by a second baseman since Darwin Barney had a 141-gamer with the Cubs in 2012. Barney, now with the Blue Jays, hit the ball that ended Pedroia’s streak.
NOTES: 2B Dustin Pedroia served as Boston’s designated hitter on Thursday for the first time this season, and just the fifth time in his career. He is a career .500 hitter as the DH, going 9-for-18 with five RBIs. On Thursday he extended his hitting streak to nine games. … Red Sox SS Xander Bogaerts was back in the starting lineup on Thursday for the first time since Monday. He had been bothered by a muscle contusion and a sprained right hand after being hit by a pitch. … Boston RHP Doug Fister allowed four walks in Toronto’s four-run third inning. He had not allowed more than three walks in his four prior appearances this season … Red Sox C Christian Vazquez was not in the starting lineup. He entered the game in the ninth inning to play third base. It was the second time in his career playing third. He also played there in a June 19 loss at Kansas City.