BOSTON – Jose Bautista hit his major league-leading 48th homer to break the Toronto franchise record and help the Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 11-9 on Friday night.
Bautista's two-run shot gave Toronto a 10-2 lead and moved him past George Bell, who hit 47 homers for the Blue Jays in 1987.
Brett Cecil (13-7) allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings. The Red Sox scored twice in the eighth and twice more with two outs in the ninth before Kevin Gregg came in to retire Victor Martinez on a popup to shortstop for his 32nd save.
John Lackey (12-11) lasted just 4 1-3 innings, giving up seven runs — six earned — on eight hits, two walks and three hit batters. He struck out three in his fourth consecutive loss, hearing boos from the crowd as he left the field.
Yunel Escobar had four hits and Adam Lind had three hits and three RBIs for Toronto, which had lost seven of eight but avoided falling below .500 for the first time since the All-Star break.
Martinez homered twice and had five RBIs for Boston, including a second two-run homer that cut Toronto's lead to 11-7 in the eighth.
Martinez homered in the first to give Boston a 2-0 lead, but the Blue Jays tied it in the second on Lind's two-run double. Lind also had an RBI double in the fifth, when Toronto scored five more runs.
Bautista's two-run shot in the sixth inning cleared the Green Monster and landed in the Monster Seats before it was thrown back on the field. The Red Sox relayed the milestone ball to the Blue Jays dugout, saving Bautista the trouble of having to bargain with a fan for it.
Martinez added a run-scoring groundout as Boston scored three times in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to 10-5. But the Blue Jays added another in the seventh on Escobar's single.
That brought in Tim Wakefield, who at 44 years old and 46 days became the oldest player to appear for the Red Sox in more than 100 years. Carl Yastrzemski was 44 years, 41 days old for his last game; the only Red Sox player older than Wakefield was Deacon McGuire, who was 44 years, 280 days old when he made his last appearance on Aug. 24, 1908.
Toronto second baseman Aaron Hill was hit by a pitch in the second inning and was replaced when the Blue Jays took the field in the bottom of the third. X-rays were negative, and he was diagnosed with a bruised right wrist.
NOTES: Lackey has given up at least five earned runs in 10 of his 30 starts. ... It was the sixth multihomer game of Martinez's career, and third this season. .. The Boston chapter of the BBWAA has named Portland first baseman Anthony Rizzo the winner of the Greg Montalbano Memorial Award as Red Sox minor league player of the year. Rizzo hit .260 with 25 home runs and 100 RBIs in the minors this season, finishing the year with the Double-A SeaDogs. He'll receive the award at the 72nd annual Boston BBWAA dinner on Jan. 20.
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