TORONTO (AP) — Trevor Story hit a tiebreaking double in a three-run 10th inning, and the Boston Red Sox rallied past the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 on Tuesday night.
“The boys did an amazing job of fighting all the way to the end,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We used everybody. It was one of the most gratifying wins since I’ve been here.”
Vaughn Grissom reached base four times, scored once and drove in a run as the Red Sox won their fourth straight.
Boston trailed 3-0 after six innings, scored two in the seventh and tied it in the eighth.
“It’s just a testament to who we are as a group, that we’re never out of a fight,” Grissom said. “That’s what you need. The best teams are never out of the fight. That’s huge.”
Story went 2 for 5 with two doubles. He gave Boston its first lead with his one-out two-bagger off Tommy Nance (0-3) that began a three-run 10th.
“He got a slider in the zone and put a great swing on it,” Cora said.
Pinch-hitter Connor Wong drove in a run with a grounder and Grissom added an RBI single.
Chris Martin (3-1) worked a scoreless ninth.
Toronto lost its fifth straight. The Blue Jays are 19-30 in one-run games.
Leo Jiménez cut it to 6-4 in the bottom of the 10th with an RBI double off Zach Penrod, who exited after walking Nathan Lukes.
Chase Shugart got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to fly out, walked Spencer Horwitz to load the bases, then walked Alejandro Kirk to force in a run. Shugart then ended it by getting Addison Barger to pop up. The save was the first of his career.
The Blue Jays have lost all five home meetings with Boston this season.
Guerrero opened the scoring with a two-run double off Brayan Bello in the third. He has 102 RBIs this season.
Lukes made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Ceddanne Rafaela started Boston’s comeback with a two-run single off Ryan Burr in the seventh. Rafaela has 61 RBIs from the ninth spot in the order this season.
Boston tied it against Génesis Cabrera in the eighth. Romy Gonzalez led off with a single, advanced to third on a hit by Triston Casas and scored on Masataka Yoshida’s grounder.
In his final start of the season, Toronto’s Bowden Francis pitched five scoreless innings. He allowed three hits, walked one and struck out four.
“Just another outstanding effort,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “You can’t really say enough about how he finished up the season.”
Francis went 4-2 with a 1.33 ERA over his final eight starts, twice taking no-hit bids into the ninth inning.
ROSTER MOVES
Blue Jays: Toronto optioned RHP Zach Pop to its spring training facility and recalled LHP Easton Lucas from Triple-A Buffalo. … INF Orelvis Martinez was reinstated from the suspended list and optioned to the spring facility. To make room on the 40-man roster, OF Daulton Varsho was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Varsho had shoulder surgery on Monday.
UP NEXT
Toronto RHP Kevin Gausman (13-11, 3.91 ERA) is scheduled to make his final start of the season in Wednesday’s series finale. Red Sox RHP Richard Fitts (0-0, 0.00) is set for his fourth career start.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Ian Harrison, The Associated Press
