Blue Jays’ momentum from win Thursday doesn’t make trip to Boston

The Red Sox took the lead in the eighth inning against rookie CJ Van Eyk

Published Jul 24, 2026  •  3 minute read

Ceddanne Rafaela of the Boston Red Sox reacts after hitting a two-run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the third inning at Fenway Park on July 24, 2026 in Boston. Photo by Brian Fluharty /Getty Images

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Momentum could be a virus in the Blue Jays clubhouse and it wouldn’t catch on.

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Coming off their cleanest and most well-rounded game from a defence, pitching, and scoring standpoint of the year on Thursday in a win over the Tampa Bay Rays, and desperately needing to string some wins together, the Jays arrived in Boston hoping to keep that good mojo going.

Instead, whatever the Jays had going on Thursday didn’t make the flight to Boston, at least not initially.

Trey Yesavage wasn’t bad by any means, but was hurt by the home run ball with the Red Sox scoring the first three runs of the game on a pair of homers off Yesavage sliders. Yesavage lasted only four innings, during which he threw 93 pitches.

Boston would go on to win  6-4.

Once again, it was the Blue Jays’ offence, or more precisely the lack of offence, that took centre stage in the early going.

The Jays had the leadoff hitter on in three of the first four innings. They loaded the bases in the first, had two on in the fourth with just one out, and then in the fifth they had runners at second and third with one out.

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In every instance, they failed to push across even one run as Red Sox starter Patrick Sandoval pitched into and out of trouble until he was lifted from the game with two down in the fifth.

Tyron Guerrero bailed him out, getting the third and final out of  the fifth to keep the Jays scoreless.

Through six innings. the Jays were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and had left eight men on.

The Sox would tag on a fourth run in the sixth inning.

Finally in the seventh the Jays managed to break through with some offensive pushback. Kazuma Okamoto passed Shohei Ohtani’s mark for homers by a Japanese rookie with his 23rd round-tripper of the season to score three and get the Jays back into the game.

Okamoto had that homer and a double in the game, snapping an 0-for-24 skid since the all-star break.

Nathan Lukes, who had already saved a run earlier in the game with a strong throw from left to gun down a would-be add-on run for the Sox, opened the eighth with a double, greeting red-hot reliever Garrett Whitlock who had just come into the game.

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Whitlock had not given up a run in more than a month but the Lukes double was followed by a Daulton Varsho single that was hit sharply enough that it prevented Lukes from scoring, forcing him to stop at  third.

Pinch-hitter Andres Gimenez cashed Lukes in from third with a sacrifice fly to deep centre to tie the game.

Momentum was in Toronto’s favour, but then momentum got stopped in its tracks again, this time by a depleted bullpen.

Normally the game situation — a tie game in the eighth — would see Tyler Rogers in to keep things even, but both Rogers and Louis Varland had pitched on back-to-back days and neither was available.

It meant CJ Van Eyk was called into a pressure situation he wouldn’t normally see and he responded much like someone would expect. Pitching in just his second game at the major-league level, Van Eyk gave up four hits in just a third of an inning and was charged with the go-ahead run and an insurance run to take the loss.

The win was Boston’s 16th in the past 17 games.

While the Blue Jays’ fortunes are firmly in reverse, the Red Sox are charging hard up the division standings. They began the day in possession of the third American League wild card and were 41 /2 games back of the New York Yankees for second place in the AL East.

Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is a week from Monday.

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