Blue Jays Squander 3 Leads, Lose To Red Sox 9-8

The Toronto Blue Jays lost three leads and the game. Their biggest loss was Melky Cabrera.

Toronto will be without its left fielder for the rest of the season after he broke his right pinkie during a 9-8 loss to the Boston Red Sox in 10 innings Friday night. The team said Cabrera will have surgery next week.

"Sometimes that's how life is," Cabrera said. "I wanted to finish strong and help the team get to the playoffs."

He appeared to hurt the finger when he dove back to first base in the third inning in a failed attempt to avoid being picked off. Cabrera stood up and shook his right hand.

"I thought it might be broke, but I wanted to stay in the game," he said. "When I took a swing the next at-bat, the pain was too much and I had to come out."

Anthony Gose pinch-hit for him and Cabrera had X-rays. Now his season is done, with a .301 batting average, 19 homers and 73 RBIs.

"I have great teammates and a good club. This is the club that gave me the opportunity when I got in trouble," said Cabrera, suspended 50 games with the San Francisco Giants in August 2012 after testing positive for testosterone. "I want to stay."

Boston erased deficits of 2-0, 6-3 and 8-6.

Yoenis Cespedes had four hits, including a game-winning single that capped a three-run 10th inning.

"He's proven to us time and time again in RBI situations, he's got a knack for it," Boston manager John Farrell said.

Since coming over from Oakland at the July 31 trade deadline for ace lefty Jon Lester, Cespedes has 26 RBIs in 32 games and a .421 batting average with runners in scoring position. And with the bases loaded, he's 6 for 9 with 12 RBIs for the Red Sox.

"Kind of like (David) Ortiz," Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts said. "I don't know if they share tips with each other, but when he sees guys on base he just drives them in."

Toronto took an 8-6 lead in the top of the 10th. The first run scored on Dioner Navarro's infield single that followed a single by Edwin Encarnacion and a double by John Mayberry Jr.

Danny Valencia then hit a deep fly to right fielder Allen Craig, who caught what he thought was the third out. By the time he realized it wasn't, Mayberry was on his way to scoring all the way from second on Valencia's unusual sacrifice fly.

"You score those two runs in the top of the 10th there, so you're feeling really good and then bam, bam, bam, bam," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "Nine times out of 10 we win that game."

In the bottom of the inning, Boston loaded the bases with none out against Casey Janssen (3-3) on singles by Mookie Betts and Bogaerts, and a bunt single by Christian Vazquez.

Will Middlebrooks singled in Betts, and Boston tied it on Dustin Pedroia's sacrifice fly. Ortiz hit a soft grounder to second baseman Steve Tolleson, but his toss to second hit Middlebrooks for an error that left the bases loaded.

Cespedes then connected and Jemile Weeks, who ran for Vazquez, scored easily as teammates raced from the dugout and sprayed what appeared to be water on a smiling Cespedes.

"I felt great," Janssen said. "I truly believed I was going to get out of it."

Tommy Layne (2-1) got the win.

Boston's first three-run comeback tied it 6-all in the eighth after Jose Bautista and Encarnacion each reached the 30-homer mark with a two-run shot. Bautista's made it 4-3 in the sixth and Encarnacion's gave Toronto a 6-3 lead in the eighth.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Blue Jays: With Cabrera out for the season, Toronto likely will use Gose or Colby Rasmus in his outfield spot.

Red Sox: Pedroia returned to his usual No. 2 spot in the lineup after missing five games with a concussion. 3B Brock Holt was replaced in the top of the 10th by Middlebrooks after feeling dizzy.

UP NEXT

J.A. Happ (9-8) pitches for the Blue Jays against RHP Clay Buchholz (6-8) in the second game of the three-game series Saturday night. They faced each other in Toronto on Aug. 25, when Buchholz went 8 1-3 innings and Boston won 4-3 in 10 after allowing the Blue Jays to tie with three runs in the ninth.

LOSING LEADS

Toronto led 2-0 on Adam Lind's two-run single in the first and then fell behind 3-2 as Boston scored a run in each of the first three innings. Then came Boston's two three-run rallies late in the game. "We didn't give up," Bogaerts said.