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Major League Baseball
Boston 8, Toronto 7
When: 7:37 PM ET, Thursday, May 20, 2021
Where: TD Ballpark, Dunedin, Florida
Temperature: 84°
Umpires: Home - Mark Wegner, 1B - Tim Timmons, 2B - Alfonso Marquez, 3B - Roberto Ortiz
Attendance: 1562

J.D. Martinez hit a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning and the visiting Boston Red Sox defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 8-7 on Thursday night in Dunedin, Fla.

Martinez hit his 12th homer of the season, against Rafael Dolis (1-1), and had three RBIs in the rubber match of the three-game series. It was the 250th career homer for the 33-year-old.

Bobby Dalbec, who had a three-run homer, led off the ninth with a single. Michael Chavis followed with a single. The runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch, and Dalbec scored on Alex Verdugo's groundout before Martinez came to bat.

Phillips Valdez pitched (2-0) 1 1/3 innings to get the win. Matt Barnes pitched around a walk in the ninth with three strikeouts to earn his 10th save.

Toronto left-hander Steven Matz allowed five runs and 10 hits in six innings.

Boston right-hander Nick Pivetta allowed five runs (four earned) and seven hits while striking out eight in five innings.

Toronto scored twice in the first inning on doubles by Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Randal Grichuk.

The Red Sox responded with five runs in the second with seven consecutive two-out hits. The third hit of the rally was Dalbec's fifth homer this season. Enrique Hernandez and Martinez added RBI singles.

The Blue Jays scored once in the bottom of the second when Marcus Semien singled with two out and scored on Bichette's double.

Toronto tied the game at 5-5 on two fifth-inning runs. Semien led off with a walk, took third on Guerrero's one-out single and scored on an error by third baseman Rafael Devers on Teoscar Hernandez's bouncer. Cavan Biggio grounded a two-out RBI single.

The Blue Jays scored twice against Hirokazu Sawamura in the sixth. Danny Jansen led off with a double and continued to third on an error by right fielder Hunter Renfroe. Jonathan Davis hit a single to give Toronto a 6-5 lead. Bichette walked with one out. Second baseman Chavis dropped a throw from shortstop Xander Bogaerts for the second error of the inning and Grichuk looped an RBI single to right.

Tyler Chatwood and Jordan Romano were perfect for Toronto in the seventh and eighth, respectively.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (knee) did not play on Thursday.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Boston   Toronto
Nick Pivetta Player Steven Matz
No Decision W/L No Decision
5.0 IP 6.0
8 Strikeouts 4
7 Hits 10
7.20 ERA 7.50
Hitting
Boston   Toronto
Bobby Dalbec Player Bo Bichette
2 Hits 3
3 RBI 1
1 HR 0
5 TB 5
.500 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Boston 14 2 21 .359 13 8 8 3 3 3
Toronto 11 0 16 .282 22 13 7 5 0 0