For Anyone Who Looked Away

Toronto scored five runs in the third inning and then handed the game to Dylan Cease, who treated Boston’s lineup like a list of appointments he intended to finish early.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. opened the scoring with an RBI single. George Springer followed with a three-run homer, and Ernie Clement doubled home Daulton Varsho for a 5-0 lead. Guerrero added another RBI single in the ninth.

That was generous support. Cease needed considerably less.

Cease Removed the Comeback Route

Cease threw all nine innings, allowed one hit and three walks, and struck out 12. Boston never scored and never assembled the kind of traffic that could make a five-run deficit feel temporary.

The verified Hit Differential was plus-14 for Toronto: 15 Blue Jays hits against one for the Red Sox. Toronto had five players with at least two hits, led by Guerrero and Clement with three each. Springer and Guerrero combined for five RBIs.

This was not a game in which Boston wasted a pile of opportunities. It was a game in which Cease declined to provide the pile.

People Having a Difficult Morning

Sonny Gray allowed five runs on 10 hits over five innings. Alec Gamboa gave Boston four useful relief innings, but Toronto’s lead had already become enormous relative to the home lineup’s output.

Boston finished with one hit and seven runners left on base. Fenway expectations can turn any defeat into a referendum, but this one does not require a panel discussion. The Red Sox were out-hit by 14 and shut out by one pitcher.

Toronto’s whole-country microscope can take the afternoon off. Every part aligned: one decisive offensive inning, constant contact and a starter who never surrendered the baseball.

The contrast stayed sharp all afternoon. Toronto had three-hit games from Guerrero and Clement, while Boston’s entire lineup combined for one. The Blue Jays did not rely only on Springer’s home run; they kept placing balls where Boston could not finish plays quickly enough to escape the inning. Cease then prevented the Red Sox from creating even a smaller version of that pressure. One side stacked contact. The other spent nine innings waiting for a second hit. Toronto also avoided the temptation to treat the early lead as permission to coast. The Blue Jays added a ninth-inning run, and Cease finished the shutout himself.

The result was control from both directions: Toronto kept adding pressure at the plate while Cease kept erasing it from the Boston side.

The Desk Has Ruled

Desk ruling: the five-run third won the game, but Cease defined it. Toronto’s lineup built the margin and its starter made that margin untouchable. A 15-to-1 hit advantage is not a subtle trend to debate. It is the box score politely asking Boston to return tomorrow with a different plan.