After getting their road trip off to a winning start, the Toronto Blue Jays head to Fenway Park on Monday evening to kick off a three-game set with the Boston Red Sox.
The Blue Jays took two of three from the hosting New York Yankees over the weekend, snapping a 17-game road losing streak to them on Saturday and then winning on Sunday to make it two in a row in the Bronx for the first time since Aug. 2-3, 2010.
Toronto has won seven of its last nine overall and is three games back of the first-place Baltimore Orioles in the AL East.
"We have to do the little things to win," said Toronto's Dioner Navarro, who hit the go-ahead RBI single in the ninth inning on Sunday. "We battled, battled, battled and came through at the end."
R.A. Dickey had to battle last time out versus the Red Sox and gets a rematch with the club tonight.
Dickey won for only the second time in eight starts with a 6-4 triumph over Boston on Wednesday, winning despite giving up four runs on nine hits and a walk in six innings.
The right-hander gave up a three-run homer to David Ortiz in the first inning, but settled down after that and improved to 8-10 with a 4.04 earned run average on the season.
"When you start the game giving up three runs without recording an out, it can really weight on you mentally," Dickey stated. "It was a very satisfying win for me personally because I kept us in the game long enough for us to scratch it out."
The 39-year-old Dickey has won both of his starts versus the Red Sox this season.
Right-hander Clay Buchholz took the loss opposite Dickey on Wednesday and counters the knuckleballer again. He failed to hold the three-run first-inning lead as Toronto countered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the frame.
Jose Bautista, Colby Rasmus and Josh Thole all drove in runs in the bottom of the frame off Buchholz, who then failed to hold a 4-3 lead as Ryan Goins hit an RBI triple off him in the sixth. Goins then scored later in the frame on Xander Bogaerts' throwing error, saddling Buchholz with a loss that dropped him to 5-6 with a 5.50 ERA.
"I'll take the blame for this one," said Buchholz, who struck out just one batter over six innings.
The 29-year-old is just 1-2 with a 5.60 ERA in three starts versus the Blue Jays this season.
Boston sits last in the AL East, 10 1/2 games out of first place, but did snap a five-game slide with a 3-2 win over Tampa Bay on Sunday. Ortiz hit a three- run homer, giving him 25 home runs and 76 RBI in 102 games.
"I've been feeling a lot better since the break," said Ortiz. "Those four days off helped a lot, and I'm getting back into it."
Toronto has won seven of 10 against the Red Sox this season, sweeping a three- game set in Boston from May 20-22.
[SportsNetwork.com]
