By Maureen Mullen
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BOSTONThe Blue Jays got to John Lackey early, battering him for seven runs on nine hits in just 2 13 innings. It was Lackeys shortest outing since Oct. 1, 2009, an abbreviated stint in preparation for the postseason, while he was with the Angels.
The Blue Jays did most of their damage in the third inning, sending eight batters to the plate with four scoring. Lackey allowed consecutive hits to the first three batters of the inning before he could record an out. He gave up three straight singles to Eric Thames, Jose Bautista, and Adam Lind before getting Edwin Encarnacion to fly out. But Aaron Hill singled and Travis Snider doubled, ending Lackeys outing. Dan Wheeler entered and retired the first two batters he faced.
The Sox fought back with four runs in the fifthall with two outs. After Josh Reddick flied out to left and Jarrod Saltalamacchia struck out, J.D. Drew singled to center, Marco Scutaro walked, and Jacoby Ellsbury tripled for two runs. Dustin Pedroia walked, with ball four a passed ball, scoring Ellsbury. Adrian Gonzalez doubled to score Pedroia, but Yamaico Navarro grounded out to second, ending the rally.The early seven-run hole was too much for the Sox to climb out of, as the Blue Jays added a single run in the seventh and another in the eighth. The Sox added three runs in the eighth off Jays reliever Jason Frasor, to close the deficit to two runs. Navarro singled and went to third on David Ortizs ground-rule double, with both runners scoring Jarrod Saltalamacchias triple. J.D. Drews sacrifice fly scored Saltalamacchia, but that was as close as the Sox would get.Lackey took the loss, falling to 5-8 with a 7.47 ERA. Starter Brandon Morrow earned the win, improving to 5-4 with a 4.72 ERA. He went five innings, giving up four runs on five hits and three walks with five strikeouts, a wild pitch, and a hit batter.
Maureen Mullen is on Twitter at http:twitter.commaureenamullen