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Instant Reaction: Blue Jays blast three home runs, win series opener in Boston
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Photo credit: © Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images
Michael Coyle
Jun 17, 2026, 08:32 EDT
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The Toronto Blue Jays are back in the win column after defeating the Boston Red Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.
After dropping the final two games of their weekend series against the New York Yankees, the Blue Jays (35-38) responded by taking down the Red Sox (29-41), who currently find themselves in last place in the American League East.
Facing one of the top young arms in all of baseball, Payton Tolle, the Blue Jays’ offence was held off the board through the first two innings until breaking through with a little help from the bottom of their order. After Andrés Giménez doubled to begin the frame, Myles Straw put together one of the best at-bats of the season. 
Straw and Tolle locked into a 14-pitch at-bat that saw Straw foul off nine pitches before lifting a fly ball to right field to advance Giménez to third with only one out. George Springer followed Straw’s strong at-bat with another fly ball to right field that was deep enough to bring home Giménez and give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead. 
After Tolle was able to hold the Blue Jays scoreless in the fourth inning, the bottom of the order took over the game in the fifth. Davis Schneider led off the inning by smashing an 0-1 changeup from Tolle 419 feet over the monster to give Schneider three home runs on the season and his second in as many games. 
Next up was Giménez, who unloaded on a 1-1 cutter from Tolle, driving it 413 feet over the right centre field fence into the Red Sox’s bullpen for his seventh home run of the season. This was the first time all year the Blue Jays achieved the feat of hitting back-to-back home runs. Giménez, who was removed from Sunday’s lineup with wrist soreness, now sits tied for second on the Blue Jays with his seven home runs. 
After Tolle required 90 pitches to get through five innings, Red Sox manager Chad Tracy turned to Tommy Kahnle to open the sixth inning, and the Blue Jays’ offence jumped on him. Kazuma Okamoto worked a one-out walk, which was instantly followed by a Nathan Lukes single to set up runners at the corner for Schneider. Schneider smashed a 1-2 changeup from Kahnle high off the Green Monster to bring home Okamoto and push the Blue Jays’ lead to 4-0. 
After his 2-for-4 night on Tuesday, Schneider is now batting .163 with three home runs and 11 RBIs. After getting off to a dreadful start at the plate, Schneider was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo but was brought back following Daulton Varsho’s placement on the IL. With the Blue Jays’ offence lacking right-handed bats, Schneider has the opportunity to remain on the 26-man roster if he can pose a consistent power threat.
Louis Varland was brought in during the bottom of the eighth inning after Tommy Nance allowed a Jarren Duran solo home run and two base runners. Varland retired Mickey Gasper via the strikeout to end the threat and give the Blue Jays’ offence a chance to add on some insurance runs. 
The insurance runs came by way of a George Springer home run. Springer smashed his 300th career home run off Red Sox reliever Ryan Watson to give the Blue Jays a 6-1 lead and put the game out of reach.
Dylan Cease gutted through five innings, allowing at least one base runner every inning, but was able to keep the Red Sox’s offence off the scoreboard. Cease needed 108 pitches (66 strikes) to get through his five frames and turned in a pitching line of 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 K in his second outing since coming off the injured list. 
The 30-year-old now holds a record of 4-3, an ERA of 2.71 and a WHIP of 1.19 over his first 13 starts of the season. With the seven strikeouts on Tuesday night, Cease now has recorded 110 punchouts over his 73 innings pitched. Even after spending 16 days on the IL, Cease sits third in MLB with his 110 strikeouts, trailing only Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers and Cristopher Sánchez of the Philadelphia Phillies. 
The Blue Jays and Red Sox will play game two of their three-game set on Wednesday, with the Blue Jays turning to Max Scherzer, while the Red Sox will counter with rookie Jake Bennett. First pitch is set for 6:45 p.m. EST at Fenway Park. 

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