Alex Verdugo’s eighth-inning two-run homer gives Red Sox comeback win over Blue Jays

© Jim Davis/Globe Staff Alex Verdugo lets his emotions show as he heads for home plate following his two-run home run in the eighth inning.

With the Olympics underway, the Red Sox have made their own commitment to turning baseball into athletic performance art. Perhaps inspired by Simone Biles, the team has embraced the sense of possibility created by an elevated degree of difficulty — and shown an ability to stick the landing when doing so.

One day after the team wiped out a four-run, eighth-inning deficit against the Yankees, the Red Sox again spotted their opponent an advantage heading into the final innings Monday night. This time, the Sox trailed the Blue Jays, 4-3, entering the bottom of the eighth. While the gap wasn’t as sizable, the circumstances were hardly promising.

Yet as they have done so often this year, the Red Sox once again treated their deficit as a welcome challenge rather than insurmountable obstacle. Alex Verdugo’s eighth-inning, two-run homer into the Red Sox bullpen against Toronto reliever Trevor Richards flipped the deficit into a lead, and ultimately, a 5-4 Red Sox win. The contest was the major league-leading 33rd comeback win of the season for the Sox, and the fifth in a game they trailed entering the eighth inning.

The late eruption reawaked Fenway Park after a listless slog through the middle innings of a night where a smoky haze (the product of the West Coast wildfires) descended upon the venue.

The Red Sox had put righthander Thomas Hatch — summoned from Triple A for his first big league appearance of 2021 — on the defensive early. Four straight batters reached against Hatch to open the second, with Hunter Renfroe ripping a leadoff double to center on an 0-2 fastball and scoring on a Verdugo single to center. Christian Vázquez then walked and Franchy Cordero flicked a two-strike changeup to left for a single to load the bases with no outs.

While Michael Chavis capitalized with an RBI groundout, the Sox failed to add on any further. Though Hatch looked exhausted over the 36-pitch inning, he struck out Kiké Hernández and induced a foul-out by Jarren Duran to end the threat.

The Blue Jays engaged in an interesting act of symmetry in the top of the third, as their first four batters reached against Nick Pivetta, with three singles and a walk producing a pair of runs on RBI singles by Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Semien. But like Hatch, Pivetta deftly navigated his way out of further harm. He got Bo Bichette to come unhinged on a curveball for a strikeout, then retired Teoscar Hernández (flyout) and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (comebacker) to end the frame.

That escape was rewarded in the bottom of the inning, when Rafael Devers pulverized a Hatch fastball, ripping a solo homer to right for his 27th homer of the year. The roundtripper allowed the Red Sox to retake the lead, 3-2, and Devers to reclaim the MLB lead in runs batted in, which he and Guerrero had shared for the preceding few minutes.

But on a night where Pivetta never seemed in rhythm on the mound, the lead did not hold. With a runner on second and one out in the top of the fifth, manager Alex Cora approached the mound with his starter at 84 pitches and Phillips Valdez ready to enter.

Such a visit almost always portends a move to the bullpen. But this time, Cora left Pivetta in the game — a decision that was rewarded briefly with a flyout by Marcus Semien.

But with two outs, Pivetta left an 89-mile-per-hour changeup on the plate to Bichette. This time, the Jays’ shortstop’s ferocious swing met the ball squarely, sending a two-run rocket into the Monster Seats — Bichette’s 18th homer of the season — for a 4-3 Toronto lead.

For Pivetta, the outing continued a year-long struggle against the Blue Jays. The righthander, who allowed four runs in 4 2/3 innings, has given up 19 runs (18 earned) in 21 1/3 innings over four starts against Toronto this season, good for a 7.59 ERA. He has a 3.75 ERA in 16 starts against the rest of the league.

The Sox, meanwhile, were stifled by Hatch and the Toronto bullpen from the fourth inning through the seventh. But Valdez (2 1/3 shutout frames) and Adam Ottavino (scoreless eighth) quieted the Jays after the fifth, positioning the Sox for their second eighth-inning come-from-behind win in as many days.

A one-out walk by Renfroe set the stage for Verdugo, who unloaded on a 3-1 changeup from Richards. Verdugo stood in the batter’s box to admire the flight of the never-to-return satellite that he launched 414 feet for the game-winning homer.

Matt Barnes came on for a perfect ninth, concluded when he induced a pop-up from his former UConn teammate and close friend, George Springer, for the final out to complete his 22nd save of the year. The victory pushed the Sox to a season-high 23 games over .500, and left them 1 ½ games clear of the idle Rays for the division lead.