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The Boston Red Sox Tuesday, August 29, 2017 * The Boston Globe Christian Vazquez homers again, and that’s a good sign for Red Sox Peter Abraham TORONTO — For a player with only six career home runs, Christian Vazquez is remarkably adept at enjoying them. He watches the ball soar, lingering a bit at the plate before walking a few steps toward first base. Then comes a steady jog around the bases, but nothing too fast. He is a catcher, after all. When he gets to the plate, Vazquez looks up and points, a tribute to his deceased brother, Gabriel. Then comes a celebration in the dugout. “I try to have fun,” Vazquez said. “Why not, right?” As well he should given the history of his homers. All have come in games the Red Sox won with three giving his team a lead in the seventh inning or later. It happened again Monday night. Vazquez’s two-run shot in the seventh inning gave the Sox a lead and they held on to beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5. That snapped a four-game losing streak for the Sox and rebuilt their lead in the American League East to 3½ games on the Yankees, who were beaten at home by Cleveland. Vazquez was 4 for 4 and also doubled. He is 29 of 83 (.349) since the All-Star break with eight extra-base hits and nine RBIs. He also has drawn seven walks and stolen three bases. A player who made it to the majors on the strength of his defense has become a dangerous hitter. “Be simple at the plate. Don’t try and do too much,” said Vazquez, who has six career home runs, four this season. “Get it to the middle or to right field . It’s fun to enjoy the game and get a couple of hits.” After a weekend of numbing offensive woes against Baltimore, the Sox collected 12 hits, five for extra bases. Drew Pomeranz (14-4) put 12 runners on base in six innings but only three scored. The Jays were 3 of 14 with runners in scoring position against the lefthander. “It was a struggle with my command and pretty much everything most of the game,” Pomeranz said. “I was able to make key pitches when I needed to the most.” Pomeranz has a 2.31 earned run average in his last 14 starts and hasn’t taken a loss since June 11. The Sox are 18-8 in games he has started, 11-2 in the division. Pomeranz had defensive help, particularly in the fifth inning. With a 3-2 lead, Toronto loaded the bases with one out. With the infield at double-play depth, Kevin Pillar hit a ball that Rafael Devers fielded 20 feet behind the bag while straddling the foul line. The rookie looked at first but threw instead to the plate. Vazquez kept his foot down for a force out. Pomeranz then caught a line drive off the bat of Darwin Barney to end the inning. Pomeranz thought the play by Devers changed the game. “I didn’t really know what he was going to do with it. I thought he was going to throw it across,” Pomeranz said. Said manager John Farrell: “He threw a strike from about 115 feet. A key play at that time in the game.” Devers was less impressed. “That was the only play I had,” he said. “Basically, I was thinking if the ball was hit hard to me, I would go for a double play. In that situation, the only play I had was to go home.” Coming into the game, the Sox had scored one run in their previous 22 innings, which essentially required Farrell to change the lineup. But he went beyond the call of duty and dropped Hanley Ramirez out of the cleanup spot all the way to seventh. Ramirez had hit .210 since the All-Star break with 15 RBIs. “I think probably Hanley would be one of the first ones to acknowledge that this month in particular has been a tough stretch for him,” Farrell said. Ramirez (2 for 4 with two runs against the Jays) has had a disappointing season but leads the team with 19 home runs and still offers the potential to carry the offense, something he did last September with aplomb. Farrell last hit Ramirez seventh on June 22-23, 2016. Ramirez had a 1.005 OPS over his remaining 78 games with 70 RBIs. “He’s got a long track record,” Farrell said. But how long can the Sox wait for that history to show itself? “He’s a big part of our lineup and we fully expect him to be that part. But at the same time . you just don’t hold out hope that when the calendar turns things change,” Farrell said. The change worked out well. With Toronto up, 3-2, Marcus Stroman left the game after six effective innings. Danny Barnes came out of the bullpen and Ramirez (2 for 4) singled up the middle. Vazquez then launched a home run to left field, sending an 0-and-2 pitch into the second deck. After Eduardo Nunez drew a one-out walk, Aaron Loup was next out of the Toronto bullpen. Andrew Benintendi doubled to center, which would have scored Nunez had the ball not bounced over the wall. Toronto intentionally walked Mookie Betts to load the bases, a strategy that failed when Mitch Moreland reached on an infield hit. Facing Ryan Tepera, Xander Bogaerts walked to force in a run. Pomeranz, Addison Reed, and Brandon Workman retired nine in a row to hand a three-run lead to Craig Kimbrel in the ninth inning. Kimbrel walked rookie backup catcher Raffy Lopez to start the inning. With two outs, Justin Smoak homered to right field. Kimbrel then walked Jose Bautista, bringing Kendrys Morales to the plate. On April 20, Morales homered off Kimbrel in the ninth inning with the Jays trailing, 1-0. This time he popped up to shortstop. It was the second time this season Kimbrel walked two batters; the first was April 9. The Sox are 8-3 against Toronto this season, 6-1 at Rogers Centre. Of the 31 games left in the season, eight are against the last-place Jays. Red Sox need Chris Sale to return to winning form Nick Cafardo TORONTO — We’re all grown-ups in Red Sox Nation, so let’s face the reality that if Chris Sale doesn’t become the dominant Chris Sale again, there’s no hope for the playoffs or World Series. None of it will happen. How do you like that pressure? We’ll be doing our best Jim Mora impersonation. “Playoffs?” This whole team was based on the starting three at the top of the rotation. Always was and that’s still the case. When manager John Farrell says it starts with the starting pitching, he’s absolutely right. When this journey began, Dave Dombrowski knew he had three studs at the start of the rotation. One of them was going to be the lead dog. It could have been David Price just as it could have been Rick Porcello, two Cy Young Award winners. But it turned out to be Chris Sale, a six-time All-Star. The Red Sox have depended on him to be the top dog. He’s been the star. He’s been the event. He’s been the shutdown guy. But not lately. It’s not alarming yet but if he should have a stinker against Toronto Tuesday night, well that might set off some bells. After Sale had his horrible outing vs. Cleveland (three innings, six earned runs), Porcello followed with his bad one and Eduardo Rodriguez followed with his. Did you ever think Doug Fister would save the day? Drew Pomeranz, who is quietly having that very good No. 2 starter season, was the winner in the Red Sox’ 6-5 victory Monday night at Rogers Centre. He is 14-4 with a 3.23 ERA. On Tuesday, the focus will be on Sale. The Blue Jays aren’t the Indians, so if Sale struggles again, it’s not just a Cleveland problem. No, it then becomes everyone’s problem because the centerpiece of your team is struggling and he can’t find a way to get back to greatness. Let me repeat: Sale has to be great again for the Red Sox to go anywhere. If you disagree, then you’re looking through those colored glasses. And right now the vision you see in them is of Chris Sale. And Sale knows all of this. He’s not ‘Oh, I’ll just do my part’ and the rest will fall into place. No, he has to be the stopper after losses, the guy who gets the team back on a roll with a dominating performance. Farrell is right, the starting pitchers set the tone because this team isn’t like the Orioles — offense first, pitching second. The Red Sox are a pitching first team. So what’s been going on since Sale’s last start? Sale said he was going back to the drawing board. He was supposed to be watching a lot of video, going over games and what he did wrong. But he pretty much knew what he did wrong. He uncharacteristically made a lot of bad pitches that leaked back over the plate. There are few major league pitchers who can get away with poor execution. Sometimes even the greats have this issue.