Red Sox's Sale aims to rebound against Blue Jays (Aug 29, 2017)

TORONTO -- While the Toronto Blue Jays continue to try to catch lightning in a bottle with their rotation on Tuesday, the Boston Red Sox will send out pure electricity on the mound.

The Blue Jays' auditions for starting roles will continue when they go with 29-year-old left-hander Brett Anderson in the second game of the three-game series at the Rogers Centre.

The Red Sox will go with the tried-and-true stuff of left-hander Chris Sale.

Sale (14-6, 2.88 ERA) has not allowed a run to the Blue Jays in 15 innings over two starts this season. He is 5-2 with a 1.68 ERA in 10 career games (seven starts) against Toronto.

The Red Sox ace is 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA over his past five starts dating to Aug. 1, however. Two of those starts, and one of the losses, were against the Cleveland Indians, who scored a total of 14 runs (13 earned) in eight innings against him. The other loss was to the New York Yankees on Aug. 19, when he allowed four runs in seven innings.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays will bring up Anderson from Triple-A Buffalo.

"We've always liked him here," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He's always been a good pitcher, but he couldn't stay healthy."

Anderson was signed as a free agent by the Blue Jays on Aug. 18 and assigned to Buffalo after he was released by the Chicago Cubs on July 31.

Anderson was 2-2 with an 8.18 ERA in six starts for the Cubs this year. He also spent time on Chicago's disabled list due to a lower back strain.

He was 1-1 with a 0.93 ERA in two starts for Buffalo.

In 133 career appearances (121 starts), Anderson is 40-45 with a 3.99 ERA. He is 5-3 with a 3.50 ERA in nine career starts against the Red Sox.

The Red Sox began the series with a 6-5 win Monday night, taking a 6-3 lead in a four-run seventh keyed by a two-run homer from Christian Vazquez. Justin Smoak hit a two-run homer for Toronto in the ninth against Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel.

The win ended Boston's four-game losing streak.

"Big night offensively for Christian," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "Particularly after the four games we were coming off, to get back in the win column is big. That might have been the toughest four-game stretch we've had this season. We came out and we put together a good effort tonight. "

Vazquez added, "We needed that win to break the losing streak. We're back."

They did most of the damage against Toronto's bullpen after starter Marcus Stroman held the Red Sox to two runs (one earned) in six innings. Danny Barnes gave up the home run to Vazquez.

Because of the lack of consistency of the starters, the Blue Jays' bullpen has been busy.

"They've been working hard," Gibbons said. "Sooner or later it catches up with you. Barnes, it was coming out good, he just left the ball up, and Vazquez hit the home run."

Gibbons said there should be some help on the way with September call-ups, which will not be a factor in this series against the Red Sox.

Farrell also changed his lineup for Monday, dropping Hanley Ramirez from No. 4 to No. 7 in the other. The designated hitter was 1-for-15 with eight strikeouts in his previous four games.

"To take a different look," Farrell said of the reason for the move. "I think Hanley would be one of the first ones to acknowledge that this month in particular has been a little bit of a tough stretch for him, so a little bit of a shuffle to the lineup."

Ramirez responded by going 2-for-4 with a double.