Homers cost Dickey as Jays lose to Red Sox 5-2

By foxsports
Published

A handful of knuckleballs cost R.A. Dickey.

David Ortiz and Jackie Bradley Jr. homered to lead the AL East champion Boston Red Sox to a 5-2 victory over the last-place Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday in the regular-season finale at Fenway Park.

''I threw really two or three that I regret, and two of them got hit out for home runs,'' Dickey said. ''It's just kind of a bizarre way to lose a ballgame. I had a good knuckleball and have had one for a long time. I kind of expected better from what I felt.''

The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, Dickey (13-13) pitched a six-hitter with a season-high 11 strikeouts and one walk in his third complete game this season.

Toronto took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Kevin Pillar's RBI single, but Boston scored four time in the bottom half on three singles and Bradley's three-run homer.

Dickey was surprised Bradley's drive to right went deep enough.

''When he hit it, I was `OK, I got out of the inning. Let's get on to the next one,''` he said. ''After the ball carried out, I looked up at the flag from behind home plate and I had not paid much attention to it until that moment, and, it was like, I could hear it. If the ball got up high, it was going.''

In Dickey's previous start against the Red Sox this season, he gave up a season-high eight runs in a 13-0 loss.

on April 7.

''He gives up fly balls. That's part of being a knuckleballer,'' manager John Gibbons said. ''But he threw a tremendous game, two home runs. You can't take away the home runs. We battled, but we just couldn't get anything going against (Felix) Doubront.''

Doubront (11-6) gave up two runs, four hits and two walks over seven innings in his last start before moving to the bullpen for the playoffs. The Red Sox clinched the division title on Friday and, with 95 wins, have the lead in the race for home-field advantage through the AL playoffs.

Koji Uehara pitched a perfect ninth for his 21st save in 24 chances.

After the Blue Jays cut the lead to 4-2 on Pillar's homer off the top of the Green Monster, Ortiz homered into Toronto's bullpen leading off the sixth.

NOTES: Ortiz doubled in the third - replays showed he slid into second baseman Ryan Goins' glove and should have been out. ... Rajai Davis stole his 45th base of the season in the Toronto eighth. ... The Red Sox unveiled a statue of Carl Yastrzemski outside the ballpark before the game. ... Red Sox manager John Farrell said he is optimistic CF Jacoby Ellsbury (broken bone in right foot) will be able to return on Wednesday, in time to get ready for the playoffs. ... The Red Sox won 95 games for the seventh time since 2003. ... Toronto travels to Chicago for a makeup game Monday against the White Sox, then goes to Baltimore. The Red Sox have a day off before playing two in Colorado and three in Baltimore.