Lawrie Has Winning Hit, Blue Jays Beat Red Sox

This was one comeback the Boston Red Sox couldn't complete.

Brett Lawrie singled home the winning run in the 10th inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Boston 4-3 on Wednesday, handing the AL East leaders their fourth loss in six games.

Brad Lincoln (1-1) worked 1 1-3 innings as the Blue Jays recovered to win after Boston's Mike Napoli hit a game-tying, two-run homer with two outs in the ninth.

The Red Sox rallied for a 4-2 win Tuesday, their seventh comeback victory in nine wins and their 28th comeback of the season.

"I don't really feel like we're ever out of a game," Red Sox starter Jon Lester said. "I feel like we've always got that opportunity, as long as the pitchers keep us within reach."

On Wednesday, however, Boston left the bases loaded in the ninth and stranded runners at first and second in the 10th.

"Late in the game, we continue to put up good at-bats," manager John Farrell said. "Unfortunately, that two-out hit that can make the difference was elusive in both innings."

Toronto won it when Rajai Davis doubled off Brandon Workman (3-2) to begin the 10th and went to third on Jose Bautista's grounder. Edwin Encarnacion was intentionally walked to bring up Lawrie, who lined a two-strike pitch off the glove of shortstop Stephen Drew, bringing Davis home with the winning run.

"Kind of unfortunate. I thought I had a bead on it and at the very end it started taking off on me," Drew said. "It hit the very end of the web. At first, off the bat, I thought I might be able to catch it out of the air real quick, but there was no shot."

Toronto's sixth walk-off win of the season snapped a five-game losing streak against AL East opponents.

David Ortiz also homered for Boston with a solo blast in the sixth, his 23rd.

Trailing 3-1 with two outs in the ninth, the Red Sox tied it with Napoli's shot off Brett Cecil, who was pitching because closer Casey Janssen had worked the previous two days.

The ninth began with Ortiz thrown out by Cecil after trying for a bunt single.

"Something out of the norm for him, certainly, but given the way he felt and the way (Cecil) pitched him last night, even though he got a base hit up the middle, knew he was going to attack him with some hard stuff running in," Farrell said.

Jonny Gomes walked and Drew struck out before Napoli, dropped to seventh in the order, snapped a 0-for-16 slump by connecting for his first homer since July 24.

"Hopefully that puts him in a good frame of mind," Lester said. "He should be pumped about that, he should be excited."

Jarrod Saltalamacchia doubled, Will Middlebrooks was hit by a pitch and Jacoby Ellsbury reached on an infield single to load the bases before Lincoln replaced Cecil and got Shane Victorino to fly out.

Demoted to the bullpen last week after his ninth consecutive winless start, Blue Jays right-hander Esmil Rogers returned to the rotation in place of Josh Johnson, who's sidelined with a sore right forearm.

Pitching on his 28th birthday, Rogers allowed one run and five hits in six innings, only to have Napoli's late homer deny him his first win since June 18. He walked one and struck out six.

The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the third, when Davis took advantage of a pair of Boston throwing errors to circle the bases after hitting an infield single off Lester's leg. Davis advanced all the way to third when Lester's errant throw ended up in foul territory, then scored when Victorino's throw hit Davis and rolled behind third base.

"He's a force when he gets on the basepaths," Farrell said of Davis. "He's disruptive."

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons echoed those remarks.

"He gets on and you can't stop him, really," Gibbons said. "He's a special guy. He can do a little bit everything."

Toronto added another run in the fourth. Encarnacion hit a leadoff double and scored when Mark DeRosa blooped a double just beyond the reach of first baseman Napoli.

Ortiz hit a one-out blast off Rogers in the sixth, but the Blue Jays answered in the bottom half when Encarnacion hit another leadoff double and scored on a two-out double by J.P. Arencibia.

Ortiz has 32 career home runs at Rogers Centre, his most at any stadium other then Fenway Park.

Lester came in 3-0 with a 2.79 ERA in four starts against Toronto this season, but was unable to extend his run of success. He allowed three runs, two earned, and six hits in 6 1-3 innings, walked two and struck out three.

"Didn't feel like I had my best stuff tonight, but I was able to minimize damage when I had to and keep the guys within striking distance," Lester said.