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Boston Red Sox: Confident and surging, Sox head to Toronto

By Jason Haskins

BOSTON, MA - AUGUST 04: Mookie Betts #50, Andrew Benintendi #16, Steve Pearce #25, and David Price #24 of the Boston Red Sox high five each other after a victory over the New York Yankees at Fenway Park on August 4, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - AUGUST 04: Mookie Betts #50, Andrew Benintendi #16, Steve Pearce #25, and David Price #24 of the Boston Red Sox high five each other after a victory over the New York Yankees at Fenway Park on August 4, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
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Fresh off of a four-game sweep over the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox begin a nine-game road trip, starting with three games in Toronto.

Trailing 4-1 in the ninth inning of Sunday night’s game, the pessimistic side of me — long a Boston tradition — turned off the game and went to bed. The Boston Red Sox sweep of the New York Yankees would have to wait.

Ye of little faith.

Monday morning rolled around and, to my delight, the Red Sox had indeed brought out the brooms, rallying for a 5-4 victory in extra innings.

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The victory provided a 9.5 game lead over the Yankees and sealed an 8-2 home stand for Boston. Now 11-4 since the All-Star break, the Red Sox embark on a road trip, starting things off with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Boston as taken 10 of 13 from Toronto in 2018, including 3 of 4 just prior to the break.

Injuries have befallen an array of Red Sox infielders, including the newly acquired Ian Kinsler, yet the team has not slowed down.

J.D. Martinez, he of 33 home runs and 93 RBI, leads a team of stars and misfits alike. Steve Pearce proved himself a Yankee slayer — at least for a weekend — with four home runs. Brock Holt and Eduardo Nunez have proven to be versatile with injuries to Kinsler, Rafael Devers, Dustin Pedroia, and Xander Bogaerts (for a couple of games). A patchwork defense even saw MVP-candidate Mookie Betts play second base for a few innings.

The Blue Jays (51-60) have won 3 of 4 and, being 27 games behind the Red Sox, are playing for a matter of pride and a shot at .500 for the season.

Justin Smoak leads the team in the triple crown categories (17 HR, 56 RBI, .252 BA) as Toronto averages 4.5 runs game.

Tentative starting pitchers

Chris Sale won’t be making his return to the rotation in Toronto. Fortunately for the Red Sox, others have stepped up in his place.

Nathan Eovaldi has been nothing short of spectacular in his two starts in a Boston uniform, and David Price finally showed up against the Yankees, allowing two runs in six-plus innings of work on Sunday.

The return of Eduardo Rodriguez appears to also be on the horizon, only strengthening the starting staff.

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Drew Pomeranz (1-5, 6.56 ERA) gets the ball rolling on Tuesday. Pomeranz faced Toronto back in May, pitching 4 innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 ER while issuing five walks and striking out six.

Marcus Stroman (4-8, 5.63 ERA) will be his counterpart. The last time he faced the Red Sox, Stroman pitched 5 innings, allowing 5 hits and 3 ER.

Wednesday’s matchup pits Brian Johnson (2-3, 3.74 ERA) against Mike Hauschild (1-0) of the Blue Jays. Johnson allowed four runs and six hits in five innings in his last start. Hauschild is making his second start of 2018, coming off a game in which he scattered four hits over six shutout innings.

Closing out the series we’ll see Rick Porcello (14-4, 3.84) taking the hill. Porcello pitched a complete game one-hitter against the Yankees in his most recent start.

Porcello will face scheduled starter Ryan Borucki (1-2, 2.30 ERA). Borucki has allowed only two earned runs in his last three starts, though he only last three innings in his previous start against Boston. Borucki gave up 8 hits and 7 runs (4 ER) in that game.

dark. Next. Boston Red Sox legends: Marvelous Mo Vaughn

Boston’s tour of the American League East will continue after the Toronto series when they head to Baltimore for a four-game set. Included in that is a doubleheader on 8/11.

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