How badly did the Blue Jays beat the Red Sox?
Glory for the Jays and despair for the Red Sox, who must now ask themselves why their last three games have been disastrous.
If you’re wondering, then yes it was most definitely a record setting night, but aside from that it was also one heck of a show on a night when the team from Toronto couldn’t stop scoring.
Blue Jays score 28 runs against Red Sox
Before a ball was struck, few could have imagined what they were about to witness. Sure, the Jays were favored to get the W, but the manner in which they did was astounding. On Friday night, The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Boston Red Sox by a score of 28-5 and with that, both clubs set franchise records for runs scored and allowed respectively. To punctuate the point, the Blue Jays also tied for the fifth-most runs plated in a Major League Baseball regular-season game since 1901.
While the modern record does in fact still belong to the Texas Rangers, who beat the Baltimore Orioles by a 30-3 mark back on August 22, 2007, the Blue Jays definitely made their mark in the history books. In what was a one-sided game from the start, the Jays really started to be cruel in the fifth inning when they took their lead from 14-3 all the way up to 25-3. Needless to say, Red Sox fans were silent on the night. As for how it all went down, let’s take a closer look at the key take-aways:
An inside-the-park grand slam courtesy of Jays’ Raimel Tapia
Like we said before, ‘the manner in which they did was astounding.’ Raimel Tapia became the first player to register an inside-the-park grand slam in MLB since Michael A. Taylor did it back in 2017. Though were still wondering how it is that Red Sox center fielder Jarren Duran contrived to ‘let it happen,’ what we can say is that it would appear he lost the ball in the sky and then seemingly lost interest in doing anything about it after. Don’t believe us? See for yourself:
Jays’ Lourdes Gurriel Jr isn’t playing around
Though just about everyone on the field for the Jays performed exceptionally, special mention has got to go to left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. who was nothing short of sensational on Friday. With his 6-for-7 performance on the night Gurriel tied the Blue Jays’ franchise record for the most hits in a single game, which was previously set by Frank Catalanotto back in 2004. Gurriel drove in five runs on his six hits and if that wasn’t enough, he also delivered his 24th double of the season. What’s scary to consider, is that Gurriel wasn’t even the runs leader on the night. Indeed, Danny Jansen and the aforementioned Tapia both provided 6 runs apiece.
The Blue Jays are finding their feet
As much as the fans would have enjoyed the performances of Gurriel, Jansen, and Tapia, what’s clear is that the Blue Jays are on the up. This was a team effort and by no means the look of a club that recently fired its manager and is currently in the middle of a less than ideal season. Consider the idea, that every Blue Jays hitter in the starting lineup notched at least two hits, and seven of the nine had at least three hits. What’s more is that courtesy of Jansen’s two home runs and Tapia’s inside-the-park feat, the Blue Jays also saw Matt Chapman and Teoscar Hernandez take to the field. Keep in mind, that no team has recorded more than 29 hits the Milwaukee Brewers beat the said same Blue Jays, 22-2 back in 1992. On that day the Brewers tallied 31 hits.
Red Sox need to do some soul searching
Without harping on their subpar performance, what we can say about the Red Sox is this: Boston has now suffered three consecutive blow-out defeats. It was just before the All-Star Game, when they were crushed in two games against the New York Yankees. First, by a score of 14-1 and then by a no less embarrassing tally of 13-2. When added to Friday night’s historic loss, the Red Sox have scored 8 runs in their last three games, compared to their opponents who have scored a combined total of 55. In case you’re wondering, that’s the worst run differential - minus 47 - in modern history.