BOSTON (AP) — Shaun Marcum pitched two-hit ball for seven shutout innings and Travis Snider homered, doubled and drove in all three runs Wednesday, helping the Toronto Blue Jays salvage the final of a three-game series with a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox.
Toronto had lost its previous five games against Boston this season. The Blue Jays closed a 10-game road trip at 7-3.
Marcum (2-1) allowed just two singles to David Ortiz, struck out six and walked one. It's the seventh time in eighth starts this year he's given up three or fewer runs.
Tim Wakefield (0-2) was the tough-luck loser for Boston, which finished a 10-game homestand at 7-3.
Scott Downs pitched a scoreless eighth and Kevin Gregg got the final three outs for his 10th save despite allowing J.D. Drew's RBI double and Adrian Beltre's run-scoring single in the ninth.
With a runner on second and one out in the ninth, Ortiz was called out on strikes on a pitch that the Red Sox slugger appeared to think was outside. Manager Terry Francona came out to argue and was ejected three pitches later by home plate umpire Dale Scott when Adrian Beltre was at-bat and asked Scott to get help on a check swing.
Darnell McDonald popped out to end it.
Wakefield, reinserted into the rotation when Josh Beckett was pushed back because of back spasms, gave up three runs and five hits, walked one and fanned five in seven innings.
Wakefield recorded his 2,000th career strikeout when he got Vernon Wells swinging to end the fourth. The 43-year-old knuckleballer was saluted with a standing ovation when a message was shown on the center-field scoreboard as he walked off the field. He came back out from the dugout and tipped his cap to the Fenway Park crowd.
With Toronto leading 1-0 in the seventh, Snider homered into the Blue Jays' bullpen after Jose Bautista drew a one-out walk.
Snider's RBI double had made it 1-0 in the fifth. Lyle Overbay snapped an 0-for-13 stretch with a ground-rule double when the ball bounced on the dirt in the center-field triangle area and into the Red Sox bullpen. Snider hit his double down the first-base line.
Boston's best chance against Marcum came in the second when Kevin Youkilis drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on Ortiz's single. But Beltre had a shallow flyout and second baseman John McDonald made a nice grab — with his back to the infield — on Jeremy Hermida's popup in short center to end the inning.
Wakefield had been shuffled to the bullpen when Daisuke Matsuzka returned from the disabled list on May 1.
NOTES: Toronto 2B Aaron Hill was a late scratch with a tight right hamstring. He was hitting just .187 in 19 games since coming off the DL from a right hamstring injury. ... Wakefield joined Jamie Moyer, Javier Vazquez and Andy Pettitte as the only active players who have reached 2,000 strikeouts. ... The Blue Jays had lost 10 of their previous 13 games in Fenway. ... There were a good amount of open seats of the paid attendance of 37,198 — the 573rd straight sellout at Fenway.
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