Joe McDonald, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Rapid Reaction: Blue Jays 4, Red Sox 2

BOSTON -- Rubby De La Rosa enjoys pitching in the friendly confines of Fenway Park.

The Red Sox right-hander entered Tuesday’s game with a 3-0 record and a 1.38 ERA in his four previous starts at Fenway, but he suffered his first loss of the season at home after the Toronto Blue Jays posted a 4-2 win over the Sox.

De La Rosa didn’t pitch poorly during his six innings of work. He allowed only three runs on nine hits with two walks and one strikeout, but the Blue Jays jumped all over the few mistakes he made.

The Red Sox, who were shut down by Toronto rookie Marcus Stroman for the second time in a week, are 1-7 in their last eight games.

Toronto’s Colby Rasmus crushed a solo homer in the top of the second inning when he deposited a 3-2 offering into the center-field seats to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead. After Boston tied it at 1-1 in the bottom of the third on Dustin Pedroia’s RBI double, Toronto’s Anthony Gose provided a two-run double in the top of the fourth to give the Jays a 3-1 lead.

In what could be his last appearance for the Red Sox, reliever Andrew Miller entered the game in the top of the eighth (Edward Mujica pitched the seventh for Boston) and the left-hander worked a perfect 1-2-3 inning, including one strikeout. Miller could be dealt prior to Thursday’s trade deadline.

The Blue Jays pushed across an insurance run in the top of the ninth of reliever Junichi Tazawa. With one out and a runner on first, Toronto perfectly executed a hit-and-run to put runners on the corners. Melky Cabrera then grounded out to shortstop, but Toronto plated its fourth run.

Xander Bogaerts lead off the bottom of the ninth with a home run, his eighth of the season, when he drove a 1-2 offering from the Blue Jays’ Casey Janssen into the Monster seats. But that’s as close as Boston would get.

Thrown away: De La Rosa entered his ninth start of the season with only three errors in 33 total games in his big league career. With one on and two outs in the top of the first inning, he made a lazy pickoff throw to first base that sailed over the head of Mike Carp, allowing Jose Bautista to advance to second. The error did not cost De La Rosa as Dioner Navarro flew out to center to end the inning.

Nearly gone: David Ortiz came within a foot of his 26th home run of the season to lead off the bottom of the second. He worked the count full on Stroman and forced the right-hander to come inside, before Ortiz launched a shot to deep right field. Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista made his way back to the warning track and made the catch at the wall. Ortiz finished the night 0-for-3, including an intentional walk.

Coming around: Red Sox leadoff hitter Brock Holt entered the game with one hit in his last 25 at-bats. He finished the night 2-for-5 with a run scored. He struck out looking in his first AB against Stroman in the bottom of the first, but Holt collected a hard-hit single up the middle in the bottom of the third. He later scored on Pedroia’s double to tie the game at 1-1. In the bottom of the seventh, Holt provided a two-out double into the left-field corner, but was stranded when teammate Daniel Nava hit a fly out to end the inning.

Web gem: In the bottom of the eighth, with the Red Sox trailing by two runs, Pedroia led off and hit a chopper in the hole between third and short. Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes ranged to his right, made the play and released a quick throw across his body for the out at first. The umpires reviewed the call, but after a 1-minute 28-second delay, the call on the field stood and Pedroia was out.

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