Dylan Cease dominated from the first pitch to the last, tossing a one-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts as the Blue Jays rolled to a 6-0 victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Toronto gave its ace all the run support he would need with a five-run third inning against Sonny Gray, handing Boston its most lopsided loss in nearly a month.
Coming off an outing last Sunday that he described as “rusty,” Gray looked much sharper early in his second start since the All-Star break. The veteran right-hander retired the Blue Jays in order on just eight pitches in the first inning before escaping a second-inning jam with help from his defense.
After allowing back-to-back singles to open the second, Jarren Duran tracked down a fly ball in left for the first out before Ceddanne Rafaela made one of the defensive plays of the season. Rafaela charged in on a broken-bat blooper by Yohendrick Piñango, made a headfirst diving catch and quickly fired to Andruw Monasterio at second to double off George Springer, preserving a scoreless tie.
Everything unraveled one inning later.
After recording the first two outs of the third, Gray allowed Nathan Lukes to double before Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lined an RBI single to center. Kazuma Okamoto followed with a single, setting the table for Springer, who stayed back on a two-strike curveball and launched it into the Green Monster seats for a three-run homer.
Toronto wasn’t finished and continued to make Gray pay.
Daulton Varsho singled, Ernie Clement followed with an RBI double, and by the time Gray finally recorded the third out, the Blue Jays had scored five runs on six consecutive hits, all with two outs. Four of the six hits came with two strikes.
Gray settled down after the third and completed five innings, allowing five runs on 10 hits while striking out three without issuing a walk. The outing snapped his streak of nine consecutive quality starts dating back to May 30 and marked just the second time this season he allowed more than three earned runs, the other coming April 14 at Minnesota.
The Red Sox prevented further damage in the fourth when Duran redeemed an earlier errant throw by cutting down Andrés Giménez at the plate. After Guerrero singled sharply to left, Duran fired a strike home, and Connor Wong applied the tag to end the inning and keep the deficit at five.
Meanwhile, Cease was in complete control all afternoon.
The All-Star right-hander retired the first 14 Red Sox hitters before walking Caleb Durbin with two outs in the fifth. He carried a no-hitter into the sixth before Monasterio lined a leadoff double into left-center, which proved to be Boston’s only hit of the afternoon.
The Blue Jays had already collected 11 hits before the Red Sox recorded their first.
Toronto added its final run in the ninth when Guerrero beat out a softly hit infield single to drive in Lukes.
