Red Sox arms suppress Blue Jays bats and win 4-1

Wilyer Abreu had two hits, including an RBI double, and the Boston Red Sox used 10 walks to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 on Monday night.

Boston right-hander Tanner Houck (9-10) pitched five scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk in the opener of a three-game series and did not record a strikeout.

The Red Sox (79-78) have won three games in a row and the Blue Jays (73-84) have lost four games in a row. Boston leads the season series 7-4.

Toronto right-hander Chris Bassitt (10-14) allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and seven walks in 4 1/3 innings and had two strikeouts.

Boston scored an unearned run in the second inning. Abreu led off with a walk and reached second base when Connor Wong advanced to first base on an error by first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Abreu reached third base when Nick Sogard hit a ground ball into a forceout to second base and scored on Vaughn Grissom’s sacrifice fly to left.

The Red Sox scored another run in the third inning. Triston Casas and Tyler O’Neill walked with two outs and Abreu hit an RBI double to right.

In the fourth inning, the lead increased to 3-0. Sogard doubled, reached third base on a balk and scored on a groundout by Ceddanne Rafaela against Bassitt.

Zach Pop replaced Bassitt in the fifth inning after Casas was walked and moved to third on Abreu’s single. Wong was able to walk on Sogard’s double-play grounder before the end of the inning.

The Blue Jays got their first baserunner when Addison Barger worked a walk with two outs in the fifth inning. Ernie Clement followed with a single to left before Jonatan Clase hit a fly to left.

Greg Weissert replaced Houck and hit two singles in the sixth inning, aided by a double play.

Boston scored once in the eighth inning against Dillon Tate when Wong, who had walked and stolen second base, came in to score after a forceout.

Chris Martin, Boston’s fifth pitcher of the day, allowed a leadoff single by Nathan Lukes in the ninth inning, then Lukes scored on Spencer Horwitz’s single with just one out.

Boston placed right-hander Kenley Jansen (shoulder) on the injured list on Monday and recalled right-hander Chase Shugart from Triple-A Worcester.

–Field level media