After more Gausman brilliance, Blue Jays rally for thrilling win over Red Sox

TORONTO – Five days after mystifying the Boston Red Sox over eight dominant innings at Fenway Park, Kevin Gausman and his mesmerizing splitter once again had them swinging through air.

Another gem, this time six innings of four-hit, nine-strikeout, one-unearned-run brilliance, reinforced how the right-hander’s repertoire will not only play in the American League East meat-grinder, but that familiarity will do little to help opponents do damage against him.

Really, what the Toronto Blue Jays must do is make sure they take advantage of what Gausman gives them, something they did in dramatic fashion Tuesday night, rallying with three runs in the ninth before a Ramiel Tapia sacrifice fly in the 10th beat the Boston Red Sox 6-5.

Gausman handed a 2-1 lead over to the bullpen but Yimi Garcia surrendered a four-spot in the eighth inning – the first earned runs against him in nine outings so far. Jake Diekman couldn’t lock things down, however, as consecutive doubles by Tapia and Santiago Espinal made it 5-3 before George Springer’s fourth of the season sailed over the left-centre field wall.

Jordan Romano, facing the heart of the Red Sox lineup, followed with a zero in the top of the 10th, calmly knocking down a Xander Bogaerts comebacker headed for his torso for the second out before striking out J.D. Martinez.

The Red Sox intentionally walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr., to open the bottom half, Alejandro Kirk worked another walk after falling behind 0-2 to load the bases and after Matt Barnes caught Matt Chapman looking, Matt Strahm came in and Tapia battled him for nine pitches before driving a slider over a five-man infield to left field.

Bo Bichette comfortably trotted him to trigger bedlam among a crowd of 22,611.

The Red Sox rally against Garcia came after seven innings of leverage tightrope. Running out a lineup with only five regulars after hamstring tightness sidelined Lourdes Gurriel Jr., the Blue Jays eked out only a pair of runs off Nick Pivetta, despite three hits and four walks in 4.2 innings against the Victoria native.

Springer cashed in Gosuke Katoh with a line-drive single in the third inning while Espinal brought home a Guerrero walk with a two-out base hit in fourth.

The Espinal single undid the only Boston run off Gausman in the top half of the frame, when a Zack Collins throwing error as Bogaerts stole second set up a Kike Hernandez sacrifice fly, on a liner brilliantly chased down by a diving Bradley Zimmer.

The Blue Jays clung to the 2-1 lead until the eighth, when pinch-hitter Rafael Devers led off with a single, Christian Vazquez chopped a ball through the right side against a shift, Trevor Story followed with an RBI double, Alex Verdugo delivered a sacrifice fly and Bogaerts doubled in a fourth run.

That was all for Garcia and David Phelps eventually allowed an infield single to Hernandez that opened up a 5-2 edge.