Aaron Sanchez quiets Boston's bat in Blue Jays' 5-3 win
BOSTON (AP) Aaron Sanchez learned not to let little things bother him.
Sanchez allowed two hits in seven innings of one-run ball, and Jose Bautista drove in two runs with a solo homer and a double to lead the Toronto Blue Jays over the Boston Red Sox 5-3 Sunday.
Cruising with a no-hit bid two outs into the fifth, Sanchez gave up a broken-bat single to Marco Hernandez. He dropped his head a bit and muttered.
A stolen base and RBI single later, he was back in the dugout. It didn't affect the rest of his outing.
''I think that was a big learning curve. That only happened a start ago,'' the 23-year-old right-hander said. ''For me, it's going back out there, attacking the zone and not letting something affect me like I did my last start.''
Toronto manager John Gibbons noticed the maturity, too.
''I've seen young guys that give up a hit and give up a run, and the next thing you know they've imploded,'' he said. ''That stood out to me. I've seen it too many times before.''
Edwin Encarnacion added two singles and an RBI for the Blue Jays, who had lost two straight and were 1-4 against the Red Sox. Kevin Pillar had three singles and made two nice catches in center after being dropped from leadoff to eighth in the batting order.
Travis Shaw hit a two-run homer off closer Roberto Osuna for Boston, which had won three straight. Hernandez had his first major league hit.
The teams meet in the finale of the four-game series on Monday in Boston's annual Patriots' Day game, which is scheduled for an 11:05 a.m. EDT start and coincides with the running of the Boston Marathon.
Sanchez (1-0) struck out seven and walked four.
Steven Wright (0-2) had his second good start against the Blue Jays in eight days. The knuckleballer gave up two runs and six hits in six innings, struck out six and walked none.
''They pitched better,'' Wright said. ''He was nasty. He was throwing upper 90s. He was hitting his spots, changing his speeds really well.''
After scoring just five run in the previous two days, the Blue Jays took a 2-0 lead in the first.
Bautista's homer caromed off the left-field foul pole and rolled behind the infield, where it was picked up by third-base umpire Angel Hernandez. They followed with three straight singles, with Chris Colabello driving in a run.
Hernandez, making his major league debut, had his soft liner drop into left in the fifth when his bat shattered and went back into the new protective screen along the first-base line. He scored on Mookie Betts' single.
Josh Donaldson's RBI double off the Green Monster made it 3-1 in the seventh. Encarnacion had his RBI single in that inning.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Blue Jays: Colabello was hit on the head by an 87 mph fastball from Wright. After being seated on the ground for a few minutes and checked out by a trainer, he got up and trotted to first. Wright walked down and the two briefly spoke, which appeared cordial.
Colabello said he was fine afterward.
''He said something to me coming down the line and again when the inning ended,'' he said. ''He was so apologetic.''
Red Sox: 2B Dustin Pedroia was given the day off, and Hernandez played second and batted ninth. LF Chris Young also was inserted into the lineup to give Brock Holt a break.
NICE DAY
Pillar robbed Ryan Hanigan with a sliding catch in the fifth and made a running grab with a leap at the wall against David Ortiz the next inning.
''He needed that. He's been scuffling a little bit,'' Gibbons said. ''One thing you know you're going to get is stellar defense.''
REMEMBERED
The Red Sox honored the family of Martin Richard, an 8-year-old boy who was among three people killed by bombs that went off at the Marathon finish line three years ago.
They were on top of the Red Sox dugout in the middle of the fourth.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays: LHP J.A. Happ (0-0, 3.00 ERA) hopes to keep his string of solid starts going Monday. He's given up two runs or fewer in each of his initial two starts.
Red Sox: RHP Clay Buchholz (0-1, 10.00) has allowed five runs in each of his two starts.
