Major League Baseball
Boston 7, Toronto 1
When: 7:07 PM ET, Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - Sean Barber, 1B - Ted Barrett, 2B - Angel Hernandez, 3B - John Tumpane
Attendance: 37693

TORONTO -- The Boston Red Sox have found a home away from home.

It is called the Rogers Centre, and while it is not Fenway Park, any way you look at it, the Red Sox have loved playing there this season.

They do not play there any more this season, however, after Mitch Moreland had four RBIs to lead them to a 7-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night to sweep the three-game series.

The Red Sox have won seven straight at the Rogers Centre, the first visiting team to do that in a single season. They were 8-1 there for the season.

Moreland hit a go-ahead, two-run homer as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, and Rick Porcello pitched 6 2/3 effective innings for Boston.

Moreland also hit a two-run single in Boston's four-run eighth.

"Insurance runs are huge," Moreland said. "It just helps everybody settle in a little bit more, keep that comfortable lead. It takes a little pressure off everybody, pitching, defense, hitting, everything."

Porcello (9-15) won for the fifth time in his past six decisions as he held the Blue Jays to six hits, two walks and one run. The right-hander struck out seven.

"I thought he had a good mix of pitches tonight," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "He threw a lot of strikes."

Hanley Ramirez also homered for the Red Sox (76-57).

Raffy Lopez homered for Toronto (61-72). The Blue Jays finished their homestand at 1-5 and have lost 10 of their past 12 games.

"Obviously, it's been real tough," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "But we haven't played good enough baseball, really, so deal with it."

Toronto starter J.A. Happ allowed four hits, four walks and one run while striking out two in six innings.

"I felt like I got a lot more ground balls last year and big double plays," Happ said. "I was trying to figure out how to make it happen, and tonight I got a few on a couple of two-seamers and cutters, and that ended up being big, helped me get out of a few innings."

Tom Koehler (0-2 with Toronto, 1-7 overall) replaced Happ for the seventh inning. He allowed a double to Ramirez and the 18th homer of the season to Moreland, who batted for designated hitter Chris Young, to give Boston a 3-1 lead.

Porcello retired the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh before Lopez walked and Rob Refsnyder singled. Robbie Scott replaced Porcello and retired Ezequiel Carrera on a line drive to center to end the threat.

Toronto's Tim Mayza allowed a leadoff walk to Andrew Benintendi in the eighth. Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts followed with an RBI double each. After Rafael Devers walked, Aaron Loup replaced Mayza. A double steal was followed by Moreland's one-out, two-run single.

Boston's Joe Kelly pitched a perfect eighth and ninth.

Lopez hit his second homer of the season, and his career, to lead off the third inning and give Toronto a 1-0 lead.

The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the fourth on one-out singles by Kendrys Morales, Kevin Pillar and Ryan Goins. Toronto failed to score, however, when Darwin Barney lined out to Porcello before Lopez struck out. Gibbons felt that might have been the turning point.

"There's no doubt about it," Gibbons said of Barney's lineout. "That's one of those plays where you're just reacting, and you hope you catch the ball or the ball catches you. Who knows what difference that might have made."

Farrell said, "(Porcello) was very good. The key was the bases-loaded, one-out situation. Fortunately, he snares a line drive off Barney, who has swung the bat well against Rick."

Porcello added, "That was a momentum-stopper. It was a big inning for us. Our team started off the road trip the right way. We got a sweep here, now we've got four big ones in New York (against the Yankees). We definitely have a good feeling, obviously."

Ramirez tied the game when he led off the fifth with his 21st home run of the season. It ended a string of 39 2/3 innings in which Happ had not allowed a home run.

"They keep coming at you, for sure," Happ said of the Red Sox. "It's a tough one through nine. They're in first place for a reason right now. They were tough in this series for sure. We're going to go into Baltimore and face a team that is hot as well."

The Red Sox came to Toronto on a four-game losing streak, but now they head to the Bronx with their division lead up to 5 1/2 games over the second-place Yankees.

"It's a testament to the guys in our clubhouse," Farrell said. "They're driven, they're task-oriented, they don't dwell on what's happened previously. We felt like we needed to do that, coming off a tough series where we got swept at home. We've got four very important games (in New York). We've got to continue to go out and play with the intensity we've shown."

NOTES: Toronto 1B Justin Smoak (calf) sat out, and 3B Josh Donaldson also did not play, just to give him a day off. ... Boston INF Josh Rutledge (hip) had arthroscopic surgery on his left hip and is expected to be ready for the 2018 season. ... Red Sox LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (4-4, 4.19 ERA) will start Thursday against Yankees LHP CC Sabathia (10-5, 3.82) in the opener of a four-game series in New York. ... Blue Jays RHP Marco Estrada (6-8, 5.04) will face Orioles RHP Jeremy Hellickson (8-7, 4.88) Thursday in the opener of a four-game series at Baltimore.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Boston   Toronto
Rick Porcello Player J.A. Happ
Win W/L No Decision
6.2 IP 6.0
7 Strikeouts 2
6 Hits 4
1.35 ERA 1.50
Hitting
Boston   Toronto
Mitch Moreland Player Raffy Lopez
2 Hits 1
4 RBI 1
1 HR 1
5 TB 4
1.000 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Boston 10 2 20 .286 16 6 7 6 4 0
Toronto 6 1 10 .188 11 9 1 2 0 0