TORONTO -- A team is always in need of some clutch relief pitching in an extra-inning game, yet in the wake of consecutive late-game breakdowns in the first two games of the Boston Red Sox's weekend series with the Toronto Blue Jays, the bullpen’s performance on Sunday particularly stood out.

Koji Uehara, Clay Buchholz and Robbie Ross Jr. combined for 3 1/3 frames of scoreless pitching to carry Boston to a 5-3 victory against Toronto in 11 innings. If you’re keeping track, that’s the backup closer, a converted starter making his first relief appearance since 2008 and a southpaw who hadn’t pitched in nine days.

Manager John Farrell was forced to go with his secondary options with closer Craig Kimbrel unavailable after tossing 39 pitches on Saturday and the team "staying away from" Junichi Tazawa and Matt Barnes since both relievers would’ve been pitching for the third consecutive day.

"On a day when we were thin because of the amount of use that they’ve had, Clay steps in, Robbie comes in after an extended period down, Koji was clean. They did a heck of a job," Farrell said.

With the Red Sox ahead 3-2 heading into the eighth, it seemed as if another bullpen meltdown could be on the menu when Heath Hembree allowed a game-tying solo homer to Toronto's Edwin Encarnacion to lead off the inning. Hembree then recorded two outs and left two baserunners for Ross, who entered the game to retire pinch hitter Russell Martin.

Ross remained to pitch the ninth, on paper perhaps a questionable move given the personnel Toronto was sending to the plate. While the southpaw has pretty even splits against left-handed and right-handed batters over his career, Ross (after getting lefty-swinging Michael Saunders to lead off the inning) had to face a quartet of powerful righty bats in Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson, Encarnacion and Jimmy Paredes.

It wasn’t a flawless performance as Donaldson and Encarnacion both reached base, yet Ross emerged with a scoreless inning to take the game into extras. It was a satisfying effort for Ross, who said he was healthy but nonetheless hadn’t been used since May 20.

"We’re all just out there trying to get it done, trying to keep us in the game. Whatever has to happen we just try to go and do it," Ross said.

This set the stage for Buchholz to make just his third career relief appearance and his first since Aug. 17, 2008. Poor results in Buchholz’s first 10 starts resulted in his demotion to the bullpen on Friday, and while the veteran righty clearly was not pleased about his situation, he said he was trying to make the best of it while still getting the hang of his new assignment.

"I tried to treat that like a start but without the long toss," Buchholz said. "I threw probably 45-50 pitches in there [warming up] ... and I didn’t really know what situation I was coming into. All in all it was sort of a learning experience for me."

Buchholz allowed a single to Darwin Barney, his second batter, yet otherwise pitched a clean frame. Farrell said that Buchholz would’ve come out to pitch another inning had Boston not taken the lead.

"He had a good cutter, good fastball, sank the ball. ... He was sharp," Farrell said. "For all that he’s been through, he’s got his back against the wall in a situation like that and he executed very well."

In the 11th, Blake Swihart and Mookie Betts both reached base on walks issued by Jays reliever Gavin Floyd. Dustin Pedroia then put Boston ahead for good with a ground-rule drive into the gap in right-center. Uehara pitched a cleaned 11th for the save.

"[I was] just trying to get a ball in the air, get that run home," Pedroia said. "He threw me some tough pitches, I fought them off, then got a fastball up and was able to get it out there."

Pedroia’s grinding presence at the plate also helped the Red Sox figure out Toronto starter R.A. Dickey. The Sox didn’t have a hit until Betts’ one-out triple in the sixth, which set Pedroia up for an eight-pitch at-bat that resulted in an RBI single. Xander Bogaerts then worked Dickey for an 11-pitch plate appearance and a single that extended Bogaerts’ hit streak to 22 games.

A walk and a hit-by-pitch later, Dickey’s afternoon was done and the Red Sox were on their way to a three-run, bat-around inning. Dickey cruised through his first 16 outs in 72 pitches, but Pedroia, Bogaerts and Travis Shaw (who walked) combined to add 26 pitches to Dickey’s tally without any outs to show for it in the sixth.

"We didn’t expand the strike zone [early in the game] and that’s the biggest thing," Farrell said. "Bogey has an 11-pitch at-bat and finally gets a base hit. We would get down in the count, but we wouldn’t give in or give at-bats away. That’s a characteristic that this group has really developed throughout the course of the year. ... In that inning, we just didn’t give in."

Starter David Price threw a quality outing (6 1/3 innings, three strikeouts, two earned runs on five hits and three walks) in his first start in Toronto since leaving the Jays for the Sox in free agency last winter. Price’s only blemish was allowing a two-run homer off of the foul pole netting to Bautista in the fifth inning.