Trey Yesavage pitched 5 1/3 sharp innings in his season debut Tuesday night and the Toronto Blue Jays shut out the visiting Boston Red Sox 3-0.
Yesavage (1-0) allowed four hits and no walks while striking three. He started the season on the injured list due to a right shoulder impingement.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had two hits and an RBI while Kazuma Okamoto had a two-run single to help the Blue Jays end Boston’s three-game winning streak.
Louis Varland struck out the side in the ninth to earn his fourth save.
Boston won the opener of the three-game series 5-0 on Monday, when Toronto was limited to two hits. The decisive match will be played Wednesday afternoon.
The Red Sox had runners at third base without scoring in each of the first two innings against Yesavage. Willson Contreras was stranded at third after his one-out double in the first. Boston left runners at first and third in the second after Trevor Story bunted for a single and Marcelo Mayer singled to right with two outs. Mayer extended his career-best hitting streak to seven games.
Toronto took a 2-0 lead against Payton Tolle (0-1) in the third. Andres Gimenez led off with a single and took third on Guerrero’s two-out double to left. Both runners scored on Okamoto’s single off the wall in left, but Okamoto was retired while trying for a double.
The Blue Jays added to the lead in the fifth. After Myles Straw and Ernie Clement accepted two-out walks, Zack Kelly replaced Tolle and saw Guerrero hit his first pitch for an RBI single to center.
Tolle allowed three runs, three hits and four walks with four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
Yesavage struck out Contreras to open the sixth before being replaced by Mason Fluharty.
Toronto’s Jeff Hoffman pitched a perfect seventh with two strikeouts, and Tyler Rogers added a perfect top of the eighth. Boston did not have a hit after the fourth inning.
Boston’s Wilyer Abreu went 0-for-3 with a walk to end a six-game hitting streak.
