BOSTON (Interstat) — Dylan Cease pitched five scoreless innings and George Springer drove in three runs as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Boston Red Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night at Fenway Park. Cease (4-3) allowed four hits and struck out seven without yielding an earned run. Louis Varland earned his 13th save, tossing 1 1/3 innings of one-hit ball with three strikeouts. Toronto scored in the third on a sacrifice fly by Springer, then added two runs in the fifth. Davis Schneider doubled home a run in the sixth, and Springer homered in the ninth, a two-run shot. The Blue Jays had seven hits. Boston avoided the shutout with a run in the eighth on Jarren Duran’s homer. The Red Sox managed eight hits but stranded runners. Payton Tolle (3-4) took the loss, allowing three earned runs over five innings. Attendance was 32,392, and the game lasted 2 hours, 52 minutes. Toronto improved to 35-38; Boston fell to 29-41.

BOSTON (Interstat) — Dylan Cease pitched five shutout innings and the Toronto Blue Jays erupted for three home runs Tuesday night, defeating the Boston Red Sox 6-1 at Fenway Park before 32,392. Cease allowed four hits, walked two and struck out seven while lowering his earned-run average to 3.10. The right-hander, who improved to 4-3, exited after throwing 89 pitches with Toronto leading 3-0. He was the beneficiary of a two-run fifth inning that included consecutive home runs by Davis Schneider and Andrés Giménez, and he watched George Springer add a two-run homer in the ninth. The Blue Jays, winners of three of their last four, improved to 35-38. The Red Sox fell to 29-41, losing for the sixth time in seven games. Toronto struck first in the third inning. Andrés Giménez led off with a double, advanced to third on a fly out by Myles Straw and scored on a sacrifice fly by Springer. The Blue Jays loaded the bases later in the frame but could not add on. The pivotal moment came in the fifth. Schneider led off with a solo home run to left field, his third of the season, off Red Sox starter Payton Tolle. Giménez followed by driving the next pitch over the center-field wall, his seventh home run, to make it 3-0. It was the first time this season the Blue Jays hit back-to-back homers. Tolle, who took the loss and fell to 3-4, allowed four hits and three earned runs over five innings, striking out six and walking two. He kept Boston in the game until the bullpen could not. Toronto added a run in the sixth. Kazuma Okamoto walked and Nathan Lukes singled, and Schneider doubled to center to score Okamoto, stretching the lead to 4-0. The Red Sox finally broke through in the eighth. Jarren Duran led off with a solo home run to center field, his 12th, off Toronto reliever Jeff Hoffman. Duran finished 2 for 5 with the homer and an RBI. Boston had a chance to score more, loading the bases on a single by Isiah Kiner-Falefa and a walk to Marcelo Mayer, but Toronto reliever Tyler Rogers struck out pinch-hitter Mickey Gasper to end the threat. Toronto put the game away in the ninth against Boston reliever Greg Weissert. Springer hit a two-run homer to left-center, scoring Myles Straw, who had walked. Springer finished 2 for 3 with a walk, a sacrifice fly and three RBIs. His home run was his seventh of the season. Louis Varland earned his 13th save, striking out three of the four batters he faced over 1 1/3 innings. He allowed one hit. Schneider went 2 for 4 with a double, a home run and two RBIs. Giménez was 2 for 4 with a double, a home run and an RBI. Lukes added two hits for Toronto, which managed seven hits overall. Boston also collected eight hits but went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Ceddanne Rafaela had a double and a single, and Connor Wong singled twice. Willson Contreras struck out four times and walked once. The game featured several overturned calls. In the second inning, Toronto’s Connor Wong was called out on strikes after a challenge. In the third, Giménez’s double stood after Toronto challenged a tag play. In the fifth, Boston’s Rafaela was called out on strikes after a challenge was confirmed, and Wilyer Abreu walked after a challenge overturned a strike call. Cease, coming off a win against Philadelphia on June 9 in which he allowed one earned run over six innings, continued his strong form. He retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced and did not allow a baserunner past second base until the fourth inning. Tolle, making his seventh start of the season, had allowed three earned runs or fewer in four of his previous five outings. He held Toronto scoreless through two innings before the third-inning run and the two homers in the fifth. The Red Sox had a chance to score in the first inning when Rafaela singled and Abreu walked, but Cease struck out Contreras, and Jarren Duran’s soft pop-up was caught by Giménez. Boston stranded two runners in the first and two more in the fourth. Toronto’s bullpen combined for four innings of one-run ball. Hoffman gave up Duran’s homer but struck out one in his one-inning appearance. Rogers allowed one hit in a scoreless seventh. Varland closed the door in the ninth, allowing only a single to Masataka Yoshida before striking out the side. The series continues Wednesday night at Fenway Park. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Toronto Blue Jays 5, Boston Red Sox 4. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Boston with a 50.70 percent probability to win. Toronto had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total of 7 runs went over the over-under line of 7.5.

BOSTON (Interstat) — The Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox open a three-game series Tuesday night at Fenway Park, both teams looking to gain ground in the American League East standings. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. EDT under partly cloudy skies and temperatures near 77 degrees. Toronto (34-38) sends left-hander Payton Tolle (3-3) to the mound. Boston (29-40) has not announced its starting pitcher. Tolle will face a Red Sox lineup that has shown recent power, led by first baseman Willson Contreras. The veteran has been on a tear, going 5 for 8 with three home runs and four RBIs in the first two games of Boston’s weekend series against Texas. Over his last 10 games, Contreras is batting .368 with four homers and 10 RBIs. The Blue Jays counter with a bullpen that has been taxed recently. Right-hander Spencer Miles has been a key multi-inning arm out of the ‘pen. Over his last seven appearances, Miles has a 2.70 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 22 1/3 innings. He threw 2 2/3 innings in Toronto’s 8-3 loss to the New York Yankees on Sunday. Boston took two of three from Texas over the weekend, winning 6-3 on Saturday and 10-1 on Friday before a 6-4 loss Sunday. The Red Sox have won five of their last eight. Toronto has dropped four of its last six, including Sunday’s loss to the Yankees. The Blue Jays are 3-7 in their last 10 road games. The teams have not met since late April, when Toronto swept a three-game series at Rogers Centre, outscoring Boston 11-1 overall. An Interstat game simulation projects a 5-4 Toronto victory. Following Tuesday’s opener, the series continues Wednesday and Thursday before both teams hit the road. Toronto travels to Chicago for a three-game set against the Cubs, while Boston heads to Seattle for three against the Mariners.