BOSTON (AP) — George Springer homered through a cold and gusting wind, and Easton Lucas pitched another 5 1/3 scoreless innings to maintain a perfect 0.00 ERA and lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a 6-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night.
One night after going 4 for 4 with three RBIs, Springer broke a scoreless, sixth-inning tie with a 404-foot homer to the flagpole in center field. Tyler Heineman and Bo Bichette added singles in the four-run inning, when Toronto also took advantage of two walks and two errors to chase Garrett Crochet.
Lucas (2-0), a well-traveled reliever who pitched five scoreless innings in his first career start against Texas on Wednesday, shut Boston down on three hits and a walk, striking out eight.
Crochet (1-1) gave up four runs — just one earned — on five hits and four walks while striking out five in 5 2/3 innings.
Key moment
Crochet took a three-hit shutout into the sixth inning before Springer’s homer. But he could have escaped further damage if not for Alex Bregman’s wild throw on Davis Schneider’s grounder to third.
After Myles Straw walked, Heineman hit a grounder toward second base and Kristian Campbell threw wide of first for another error. Alan Roden walked, and Zack Kelly gave up a run-scoring single to Bichette.
Bichette added another RBI single in the eighth.
Key stat
The game-time temperature was 35 degrees, with gusts of up to 33 mph blowing in from left that made it feel like 19 degrees, and the ballpark was mostly empty. According to Baseball Reference, it was the third-coldest temperature at first pitch at Fenway since records began being reliably kept in 1998.
Boston’s Triple-A affiliate in Worcester, about an hour west but with substantially the same weather forecast, postponed its Tuesday night game.
Up next
Right-hander Kevin Gausman (1-1) will face Boston righty Tanner Houck in Wednesday night’s game.
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