Bradley Jr. sparks 8-run inning against former team in Blue Jays’ win over Red Sox | CBC Sports

Jackie Bradley Jr. doubled and scored to key an eight-run inning against his former team and the Toronto Blue Jays rolled to a 9-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night.

George Springer had two hits and drove in three runs in his return to the lineup at designated hitter. The Blue Jays (66-55) notched their fifth win in six outings to keep pace with the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL wild-card standings.

Ross Stripling (6-3) followed up his flirtation with a perfect game last week with another efficient night, yielding one run off six hits and striking out six over six innings. He said he’s enjoying being someone the team is counting late in the year.

Interim manager John Schneider said the team is riding the wave of its starting pitching right now.

“They’ve been dealing, it starts with that,” he said. “I think it allows the offense to do what it’s capable of doing.”

The Red Sox (60-63) have lost four of their last five.

Boston starter Josh Winckowski (5-7) lasted only 2 2/3 innings, allowing six runs, six hits and walking two. He’s given up 12 runs over 7 2/3 innings in his last two starts.

It rained throughout the afternoon in Boston, and lingering storms in the area delayed the game’s start time by an hour.

Kike Hernandez’s RBI single gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the second inning

Things fell apart quickly for Boston after that.

Making his first appearance at Fenway Park as a visiting player, Bradley doubled hard off the left field wall to open the third. Boston left fielder Tommy Pham was hurt on the play after his leaping attempt to make a catch resulted in him crashing into the wall and exiting with back spasms.

Winckowski got back-to-back ground outs, but Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tied the game with an RBI double.

Alejandro Kirk walked and Teoscar Hernandez doubled to make it 2-1. Bo Bichette singled to load the bases and Winckowski walked Matt Chapman before being pulled in favor of reliever Austin Davis.

Cavan Biggio kept the rally going with an RBI single. Bradley Jr. then got aboard again via a walk. Davis looked like he was going to get out of the inning when Springer lifted a short fly ball to right field. But Rob Refsnyder whiffed on his attempt at a sliding catch and the bases emptied on Springer’s triple to make it 8-1.

Welcome back

Bradley received a warm reception during a video tribute highlighting the outfielder’s time in Boston, which spanned eight-plus seasons over two stints.

Bradley was the MVP of the 2018 AL Championship Series and helped catapult the Red Sox to a World Series win that season. He tipped his cap to the crowd in his first appearance at Fenway Park as a visiting player.

Bradley agreed to a US $24 million, two-year contract with Milwaukee in March 2021 and played one season for the Brewers. He was traded to Boston in December and played a second stint with the Red Sox. But early season struggles led to him being released by Boston earlier this month. The Blue Jays signed him on Aug. 9.