[Bluejaysfan65]

Jays Rough Up Sale, Take Series From Red Sox

Josh Donaldson's solo homer in the fifth capped off an uncharacteristic start from Chris Sale.

The Blue Jays may have finally put their hitting woes behind them on Thursday afternoon, as they managed to rough up Red Sox prized off-season acquisition Chris Sale.

Sale has been dominant early on in the season for the Red Sox, but was ultimately touched up for four runs on nine hits over five innings of work in which he struckout an uncharacteristic one batter. Sale, who has been known for his multi-strikeout performances, admitted that “things just weren’t working out today”, as he recorded his first loss of the season.

Jsoh Donaldson opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning when he lined a single to left to allow Devon Travis to trot home with the game’s opening run. Kendrys Morales would tack another run on when a routine single would be misplayed by Jackie Bradley Jr., allowing Donaldson to get the extra base and slide home safely.

The Jays would continue their offensive onslaught against Sale, with Russell Martin almost knocking Sale to the ground with a hard single up the middle to expand the Jays’ lead to three before Josh Donaldson would end Sale’s night with a 419 foot blast that would land in the second deck in left field.Things would quiet down on the offensive side of the ball for the Jays until the eighth inning when Justin Smoak ripped a double to the left-centre field gap to score Troy Tulowitzki from first.

J.A. Happ was throwing the ball well for the Jays before he was forced to leave the game with a hip flexor strain in the fourth inning. The veteran southpaw had been flat out dealing, surrendering just two hits through his short outing while striking out three. Francisco Liriano would come in from the ‘pen and go to work, throwing 4 2/3 hitless innings to qualify for his first win of the season.

The Blue Jays will kick off a seven game road trip tomorrow evening in Anaheim as they take on the Angels. Marco Estrada (0-2, 2.84) will get the ball searching for his first win of the season. The Angels will turn to lefty Tyler Skaggs (2-1, 3.15), who has been off to a tremendous start to the season.

Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays
Apr 20, 2017	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston (6-9)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
Toronto (7-7)	0	0	2	1	1	0	0	1	X	5	13	0
W: Francisco Liriano (2-3) L: Chris Sale (2-1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			BOS	TOR
TOR	Bot 3rd.	Donaldson lined to left for a single. Travis scores.	0	1
TOR	Bot 3rd	Morales lined and deflected off center fielder Bradley Jr. for a single (E8). DOnaldson scores. Bautista advances to 3rd. Morales advances to 2nd on an error.	0	2
TOR	Bot 4th	Martin grounded to center for a single. Tulowitzki scores. Smoak advances to 3rd.	0	3
TOR	Bot 5th	Donaldson homered to left (419 feet).	0	4
TOR	Bot 8th	Smoak doubled to left. Tulowitzki scores.	0	5

Boston Red Sox
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
FIELDING E: J. Bradley Jr. (1)

Boston Red Sox
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
C. Sale (L, 2-1)	5.0	9	4	4	0	1	3.43
S. Wright	3.0	4	1	1	0	0	3.00
TOTALS	8.0	13	5	5	0	1

Toronto Blue Jays
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
BATTING 2B: J. Smoak 2 (6) HR: J. Donaldson (2) RBI: K. Morales (6), R. Martin (1), J. Smoak (5), J. Donaldson 2 (10) SAC: E. Carrera GIDP: E. Carrera, J. Donaldson

Toronto Blue Jays
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
J. Happ	3.1	2	0	0	0	3	1.06
F. Liriano (W, 2-3)	4.2	0	0	0	0	4	0.82
R. Osuna	1.0	0	0	0	0	3	0.00
TOTALS	9.0	2	0	0	0	10