Blue Jays power past Red Sox

Associated Press Sports

updated 12:13 a.m. ET June 26, 2012

BOSTON (AP) - Take them out of Toronto and the Blue Jays hit plenty of long balls.

Jose Bautista, Colby Rasmus and J.P. Arencibia hit two-run homers Monday night to lead the Blue Jays to a 9-6 victory over Boston despite two home runs by David Ortiz that tied him for the most multihomer games in Red Sox history.

It was the fourth win in six games for Toronto, which overcame two errors and blew an early four-run lead.

"The top of our order has been swinging good of late," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. "The way Jose, Edwin (Encarnacion) and Rasmus have been going. ... They're swinging the bats well for us."

The Blue Jays are tied with the Yankees for the major league lead with 54 road homers and they have come in 39 games away from Rogers Centre.

They needed all of them Monday because of Ortiz's power display.

Ortiz hit a two-run homer and a solo shot, his 37th multihomer game for the Red Sox, tying Ted Williams for the club record. He has 398 career homers that ties Dale Murphy for 51st all-time.

"I can't tell you what to attribute it to," Boston manager Bobby Valentine said of the 36-year-old Ortiz continuing to swing a hot bat. "His batting practice every day is stellar, his games have been consistently terrific. The only time he got outside of himself was a couple of days ago. Then he got the off day (Sunday) and he came back with a vengeance tonight."

It's his 11th straight season with 20 or more homers.

Henderson Alvarez (4-6) pitched five innings then left with right elbow soreness. He allowed five runs - three earned - and six hits to snap a four-game losing streak. The Blue Jays had lost his last seven starts.

"When he went out for the sixth inning he had trouble getting loose," Farrell said. "It was a precautionary thing. We'll get him an MRI tomorrow. We don't anticipate (him missing a start), but we're going to take every precautionary measure."

Casey Janssen worked the ninth for his eighth save, striking out the only three batters he faced.

Boston's Felix Doubront (8-4) gave up seven runs - five earned - and 11 hits in six innings.

Boston lost for just the third time in its last 12 in a game delayed by rain for 1 hour, 56 minutes.

With the score tied 5-5 in the sixth, Ben Francisco had a two-out double off the wall in center field over Ryan Kalish's leap and Arencibia homered off a sign over the Green Monster seats.

Bautista's homer, his 24th, off reliever Matt Albers made it 9-5 in the seventh. The Blue Jays had a runner on first with two outs when heavy rain accompanied by lightning and thunder delayed the game.

After play resumed, Blue Jays first baseman Encarnacion and Bautista both made diving plays on balls.

The Blue Jays took advantage of third baseman Will Middlebrooks' fielding error to score two unearned runs in a four-run first. Brett Lawrie opened the game with a single before Rasmus hit a homer that hooked around the right-field foul pole, his 14th, to make it 2-0. Bautista reached on the error and scored on Encarnacion's double. Rajai Davis hustled down the line for a run-scoring fielder's choice.

Rasmus' homer hit the top of the short wall and bounced over.

"I knew I barreled it up," he said. "Once it hit the top, I knew it was gone."

Boston cut it to 4-2 in the bottom on the inning on Ortiz's homer that snapped an 0-for-11 stretch. His second homer made it 9-6 in the eighth.

"It's unbelievable," Middlebrooks said of Ortiz. "I thought the guy hits everything hard."

Rasmus' RBI single made it 5-2 in the fifth.

In the third, the Blue Jays made two errors - one by shortstop Yunel Escobar and the other by second baseman Kelly Johnson - which led to both runs. Johnson booted Jarrod Saltalamacchia's two-out grounder, allowing Dustin Pedroia to score from third, before Adrian Gonzalez followed with an RBI single.

Kalish's RBI single tied it in the fourth.

NOTES: Middlebrooks was named the AL's Player of the Week on Monday. "It's a nice bonus," Valentine said. "He had a great week." Outfielder Cody Ross joked, "he stole it from me. I made a good push, though." Ross had two homers and five RBIs in Boston's win Sunday. ... Blue Jays 1B Adam Lind was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas on Sunday. "It was in an environment that allowed him to relax and get back to the type of player he was in Toronto," Farrell said. "His performance has forced the decision to get him back here to get a productive left-handed hitter back in the lineup. He just felt like his body was more loose and he had increased range at first base." ... Valentine said RHP Josh Beckett, on the 15-day DL with shoulder inflammation, may pitch Friday in Seattle. He's eligible to come off the DL Thursday.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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