Blue Jays fall to streaking Red Sox in rowdy four-gamer

Though they got off to a rough start this season, the Boston Red Sox (27-23) are still an undoubtedly good baseball team. In this week’s four-game series against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, they demonstrated just that, disengaging Blue Jays hitters and handling the onslaught of pitchers with ease.

Here’s a look at the good, the bad, and the weird from this week’s set against the rival Sox:

The stupidly productive Rowdy Tellez (5-for-13, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 2B, BB) was the driving force in this series, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (4-for-15, HR, 3 R) and Brandon Drury (6-for-17, 3 RBI, 4 2B) also put together some solid at-bats throughout the series, as did Justin Smoak (4-for-16, 2 HR, BB, 2B).

On the mound, Clayton Richard (4.0 IP, 2 SO, ER) was rather efficient in his season debut, while relievers Derek Law (2.0 IP, ER, H, 2 SO), Tim Mayza (0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 SO), and Ken Giles (1.0 IP, SO, H, 0 ER) were all dependable.

As per usual, Marcus Stroman (6.0 IP, 5 H, 4 SO, ER, W) was outstanding, while fellow starter Aaron Sanchez (6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 5 SO) managed to piece together yet another solid start.

Knuckleballer Ryan Feierabend (1.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER) struggled once again, while Elvis Luciano (2.2 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 2 BB) was also majorly roughed up. Elsewhere in the bullpen, Joe Biagini (2.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, BB) also had a subpar series, increasing his ERA in the month of May to 4.00.

In his second start with the club, veteran Edwin Jackson (5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, BB, 4 SO) faltered, as did Ryan Tepera (1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, BB), who has yet to find his rhythm after returning from an early-season IL stint.

At the dish, Eric Sogard (0-for-10, 2 SO), Jonathan Davis (2-for-14, 4 SO), and Danny Jansen (2-for-12, 2 RBI, 3 SO) also had their fair share of struggles against Red Sox pitching.

Aside from Thursday’s bizarre “Baby Shark” inspired video on the big screen, Blue Jays fans were puzzled by Charlie Montoyo’s decision to rest Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on Victoria Day Monday, one of Canada’s biggest spring/summer festivals. Though the skipper didn’t comment, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins was apologetic, saying that he forgot to “communicate the importance of Victoria Day” to his manager.

The Blue Jays (now 20-30 on the season) will send Trent Thornton (1-4, 4.41 ERA, 50 SO), Jackson (0-1, 6.30 ERA, 6 SO), and Marcus Stroman (2-6, 2.81 ERA, 55 SO) to the mound to face the San Diego Padres’ (26-24) trio of Joey Lucchesi (3-3, 4.28 ERA, 46 SO), Cal Quantrill (0-2, 5.40 ERA, 10 SO), and Chris Paddack (4-2, 1.93 ERA, 56 SO).

With Cavan Biggio soon joining the major-league roster, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. rejoining the team in Toronto, this weekend’s series figures to be one of the more exciting the team has played this season.