<p>Don&#8217;t know about you, but losing games late are <em>not </em>fun. The Blue Jays lost their third consecutive game &#8211; all three coming at the mercy of an opponent&#8217;s run(s) in the 8th inning or later &#8211; with a 7-6 defeat to the Boston Red Sox Tuesday night.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Connor Wong homered off of Erik Swanson in the bottom of the 8th to put the Sox ahead for good, the seventh run that the bullpen has allowed in the last three games. The Red Sox now have clinched at least a split of the four-game series.</p>
<h2>Blue Jays Nation&#8217;s Player of the Game: Daulton Varsho</h2>
<p>Varsho had one of his best games as a Blue Jay, going 2-for-4 with a three-run home run that broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth inning. Varsho&#8217;s other hit was a double in the fourth inning that served as Toronto&#8217;s first hit of the game. Tonight was Varsho&#8217;s first multi-hit game since April 12th against Detroit.</p>
<h2>Things worth mentioning</h2>
<p><strong>The night of Connor Wong: </strong>Wong was one of the pieces acquired in the Mookie Betts trade, and he had undoubtedly the best game of his career tonight. Wong had a Wendy&#8217;s special, going 4-for-4 with two home runs, a double, and a single. Wong had everything going for him in a multitude of ways; the two home runs he had tonight doubled the amount of home runs he had for his career entering this game. He also hit a pair of home runs that snuck over the Green Monster, with the second one only being a home run in 3/30 MLB ballparks.</p>
<p>Alex Verdugo, another piece of the Betts deal, had a solid night at the plate going 2-for-4 with two doubles. Between Verdugo and Wong, the pair went 6-for-8 with two home runs and three doubles.</p>
<p><strong>Yusei Kikuchi: </strong>After a string of really good starts, Kikuchi was hit pretty hard tonight and had one of his worst starts of the young season. Tonight&#8217;s matchup actually looked great for Yusei, as the Red Sox sprinkled four left-handed batters throughout the lineup. Granted, some of Boston&#8217;s better hitters are lefties anyway, but the left-on-left matchups provided some opportunity for a good outing.</p>
<p>Despite not giving up any walks, Kikuchi left the ball over the plate for some hard contact, which included two home runs and three doubles. He never was able to get into any kind of groove; he didn&#8217;t register a three-up-and-three-down inning, and was only able to pitch one scoreless inning.</p>
<p>John Schneider gave Kikuchi a chance to earn a win, as the Jays went into the bottom of the 5th with the lead, but he only collected one out before he was pulled. For the night, Kikuchi&#8217;s line was 4.1 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, and 2 K&#8217;s.</p>
<p><strong>5th inning rally: </strong>The best thing about getting hits from the bottom of the order is that there can/will be runners on base for the top of the order. That&#8217;s exactly what happened in the top of the 5th, as Danny Jansen and Kevin Kiermaier both singled with one out. George Springer struck out with those guys on the corners, but Bo Bichette walked to load the bases.</p>
<p>The good news for Tanner Houck was that he didn&#8217;t let Bichette do too much damage. The bad, however, was that his prize was facing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with the bases loaded. Vladdy came through with a two-run single, trimming the lead to 3-2. Much like last night, the Red Sox helped Toronto score a run, as Connor Wong paid the price for horrendously setting up to receive a cutter from Houck, and Bichette would come into score on a passed ball.</p>
<p>Chapman reached on an infield single, and that set the stage for Varsho to launch his third home run of the season into the right-field seats.</p>
<p><strong>What&#8217;s next: </strong>Toronto gets another shot at the Red Sox tomorrow night with Alek Manoah taking the bump. This is the first time that Manoah will face the Red Sox since Alex Verdugo voiced his displeasure with Manoah&#8217;s strikeout celebrations.</p>
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Don't know about you, but losing games late are <em>not </em>fun. The Blue Jays lost their third consecutive game - all three coming at the mercy of an opponent's run(s) in the 8th inning or later - with a 7-6 defeat to the Boston Red Sox Tuesday night.



Connor Wong homered off of Erik Swanson in the bottom of the 8th to put the Sox ahead for good, the seventh run that the bullpen has allowed in the last three games. The Red Sox now have clinched at least a split of the four-game series.
<h2>Blue Jays Nation's Player of the Game: Daulton Varsho</h2>
Varsho had one of his best games as a Blue Jay, going 2-for-4 with a three-run home run that broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth inning. Varsho's other hit was a double in the fourth inning that served as Toronto's first hit of the game. Tonight was Varsho's first multi-hit game since April 12th against Detroit.
<h2>Things worth mentioning</h2>
<strong>The night of Connor Wong: </strong>Wong was one of the pieces acquired in the Mookie Betts trade, and he had undoubtedly the best game of his career tonight. Wong had a Wendy's special, going 4-for-4 with two home runs, a double, and a single. Wong had everything going for him in a multitude of ways; the two home runs he had tonight doubled the amount of home runs he had for his career entering this game. He also hit a pair of home runs that snuck over the Green Monster, with the second one only being a home run in 3/30 MLB ballparks.

Alex Verdugo, another piece of the Betts deal, had a solid night at the plate going 2-for-4 with two doubles. Between Verdugo and Wong, the pair went 6-for-8 with two home runs and three doubles.

<strong>Yusei Kikuchi: </strong>After a string of really good starts, Kikuchi was hit pretty hard tonight and had one of his worst starts of the young season. Tonight's matchup actually looked great for Yusei, as the Red Sox sprinkled four left-handed batters throughout the lineup. Granted, some of Boston's better hitters are lefties anyway, but the left-on-left matchups provided some opportunity for a good outing.

Despite not giving up any walks, Kikuchi left the ball over the plate for some hard contact, which included two home runs and three doubles. He never was able to get into any kind of groove; he didn't register a three-up-and-three-down inning, and was only able to pitch one scoreless inning.

John Schneider gave Kikuchi a chance to earn a win, as the Jays went into the bottom of the 5th with the lead, but he only collected one out before he was pulled. For the night, Kikuchi's line was 4.1 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, and 2 K's.

<strong>5th inning rally: </strong>The best thing about getting hits from the bottom of the order is that there can/will be runners on base for the top of the order. That's exactly what happened in the top of the 5th, as Danny Jansen and Kevin Kiermaier both singled with one out. George Springer struck out with those guys on the corners, but Bo Bichette walked to load the bases.

The good news for Tanner Houck was that he didn't let Bichette do too much damage. The bad, however, was that his prize was facing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with the bases loaded. Vladdy came through with a two-run single, trimming the lead to 3-2. Much like last night, the Red Sox helped Toronto score a run, as Connor Wong paid the price for horrendously setting up to receive a cutter from Houck, and Bichette would come into score on a passed ball.

Chapman reached on an infield single, and that set the stage for Varsho to launch his third home run of the season into the right-field seats.

<strong>What's next: </strong>Toronto gets another shot at the Red Sox tomorrow night with Alek Manoah taking the bump. This is the first time that Manoah will face the Red Sox since Alex Verdugo voiced his displeasure with Manoah's strikeout celebrations.

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Toronto Blue Jays suffer their third straight late-inning loss behind Connor Wong’s career night

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Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage (39) pitches against the Seattle Mariners in the first inning during game two of the ALCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Rogers Centre.

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