The Blue Jays have now set a season high for consecutive losses, as they fell to the Red Sox 8-3 on a chilly and rainy night in Boston. The Blue Jays certainly shot themselves in the foot throughout this one, committing four errors for the game, several of those leading to runs. The Blue Jays had only committed six errors all season, so this was a highly uncharacteristic night for them.

Vladdy was 2-for-4 on the night with a home run and a single. The home run was a very loud one, however, as it sailed 450 feet and over the Green Monster seats. Guerrero’s hits were two of the four hardest-hit balls of the night, leaving his bat at 112 and 110 mph respectively.

Alek Manoah: Manoah had a “night and day” kind of night on the mound, as one critical moment turned the tides on his outing. Manoah retired 10 of the first 12 batters he faced on the night, with only a single and a walk to his name. However, with one out in the 4th, Rafael Devers smoked a line drive back at Manoah, hitting him in the leg. Alejandro Kirk fielded the ball with a chance to get Devers out, but his throw sailed past Guerrero Jr. at first base. Manoah took a few minutes to walk the injury off and was fortunately allowed to stay in the game.

Whether that had an impact or not on his performance is yet to be determined, but after that happened, Manoah’s night began to unravel. Two pitches after being hit, Manoah bounced a slider in the dirt, allowing Devers to advance to second. The next batter was Jarren Duran, who doubled Devers home. I can confidently say that the Red Sox were much more fun to play against when Duran was losing fly balls in the lights and giving up inside-the-park grand slams.

To make matters worse, Manoah tried to pick off Duran at second base, but his throw sailed into center field past the glove of Bo Bichette. One batter later, Triston Casas singled Duran home to make the score 2-2.

The Red Sox got another three runs off Manoah in the 5th inning, however, none of them were earned, as a throwing error from Santiago Espinal earlier in the inning cost Toronto in the long run. Had Espinal not made the errant, Manoah would’ve gotten out of the inning unharmed. Toronto also got an unlucky bounce – symbolic of their night – as a ground ball from Enmanuel Valdez bounced past Guerrero on what looked to either bite the lip of the grass or bounce away due to the spin of the ball. This was originally scored as an error, but it was rightfully changed to an infield hit as this was no fault of Guerrero’s.

Manoah was done after five innings, allowing eight hits, five runs (two earned), one walk, and three strikeouts.

Daulton Varsho: Varsho had his second consecutive multi-hit night, as well as his second consecutive game with a home run. It’s safe to say that we’ve yet to see Varsho’s full offensive potential – maybe these past two games get him going at the plate consistently.

Anthony Bass and the bullpen: Bass continues to have a tough go of it, as he allowed three hits and run while only recording a single out on seven total pitches. Of his 11 outings this year, Bass has given up at least a run in seven of them. Furthermore, like Manoah, Bass took a line drive off his leg but stayed in the game.

Trevor Richards and Nate Pearson followed Bass, both throwing 1.1 innings and allowing a run. Pearson’s run was his first allowed of the season.

What’s next: Toronto now plays to avoid the sweep, and they have the right guy going out to the mound to do it in Kevin Gausman. In Gausman’s last start, he struck out a career-high 13 batters against the Mariners. Strikeouts have been hard to come by for Toronto’s starters in this series, so we’ll see if Gausman can break the trend.