Red Sox use 6-run 1st to down Jays

Boston, MA – Adrian Gonzalez had three RBI and the Red Sox rode a six-run first inning to a 10-4 shellacking of the Blue Jays on Wednesday.

Mike Aviles went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI while David Ortiz homered and walked three times for the Red Sox, who have won nine of their last 11, including the final two of this three-game series.

Jon Lester (5-5) got the win, allowing four runs on seven hits over seven innings. He struck out four and did not issue a walk.

"He hasn't been getting runs," said Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine. "We got him runs right off the bat and he did the rest. He threw the ball very well today."

Ricky Romero (8-2) had won four straight decisions, but he was tagged for nine runs -- eight earned -- over three-plus innings in the loss.

Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion both homered for Toronto.

Romero scarcely resembled the hurler who had posted a 2.72 ERA in his three previous starts against Boston, all of which resulted in wins.

He was spotted an early lead when Brett Lawrie began the game with a double and scored on Colby Rasmus' infield single, but Boston emphatically answered back.

"He wasn't the same pitcher today and we recognized that early," said Valentine. "We took a lot of pitches and hardly swung at a ball out of the strike zone the first three innings."

The strategy worked, beginning with a leadoff walk by Daniel Nava, who scored on Dustin Pedroia's double to right. Ortiz then walked and Cody Ross singled to load the bases. Gonzalez followed with a chopper towards first base, which bounced under the glove of Encarnacion, allowing two more runs to cross the plate.

Mike Aviles and Darnell McDonald added consecutive RBI singles and Boston had a lead it wouldn't relinquish.

More walks followed an inning later, to Ortiz and Ross, and Gonzalez capitalized with a single to right, making it 7-1.

Romero was pulled after more of the same in the fourth, issuing a leadoff walk to Ortiz before a Ross double off the Green Monster placed runners at second and third. Gonzalez greeted Jesse Chavez with an RBI single and Aviles doubled later in the frame to score Ross.

Ortiz pushed Boston's final run across with a solo shot in the fifth -- his 21st of the season.

Bautista hit his 25th homer in the fourth inning -- a leadoff blast which cleared the Green Monster, exited the stadium, and dented the roof of a black SUV located in an adjacent parking lot.

Encarnacion homered on the heels of Bautista's double in the sixth and Kelly Johnson appeared to knock a solo blast in the ninth, but McDonald extended high over the right field fence and pulled back the long fly ball.

Game Notes

The Red Sox are now a season-high five games over .500, at 40-35...Bautista hit his 13th home run this June, the most homers by a player in any single month in club history...Bautista and Encarnacion have combined to hit 47 home runs this season, which is the most by any duo in the majors.