Jonatan Clase hit his first career home run, and Kevin Gausman pitched six innings, matching his career high in wins, as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Boston Red Sox 6-1 on Wednesday night, eliminating Boston from the postseason race.
Clase went 3 for 3 with a walk, scored twice, and had two RBIs. He added to Toronto’s lead with a homer off Josh Winckowski in the seventh inning.
“A really good night from him,” said manager John Schneider.
Alejandro Kirk, who extended his career-best hitting streak to 17 games, contributed three hits and three RBIs. This victory ended the Blue Jays’ losing streak at five games and prevented a three-game sweep. Boston had previously been 5-0 against Toronto this season.
The Blue Jays finished with a 21-31 record against AL East teams for the second year in a row.
Gausman (14-11) gave up one run and four hits, winning his second consecutive start. He walked three batters and struck out three, finishing his outing by getting Nick Sogard to fly out with the bases loaded.
“It’s always good when you can tie a career high,” Gausman said, “but I wish I would have been throwing the ball like last year.”
The Red Sox, who came into the game with a four-game winning streak, needed to win their last four games and rely on other teams for help in the American League wild-card race.
“At one point it felt like we were a playoff caliber team and then we missed the opportunity,” said manager Alex Cora. “You look around at the teams that are fighting. We had it right there and we blew it.”
Boston went into the All-Star Game with a record of 53-43, but a poor second half hurt the team, starting with a three-game sweep by the Dodgers right after the break.
“Since LA, we never got it going,” Cora said.
The Red Sox have now missed the playoffs for three straight seasons, the first time that has happened since 2010-2012. They won the World Series in 2013.
