Blue Jays-Red Sox: Toronto's Shaun Marcum Struggles in Loss to Boston

A day after pounding the New York Yankees 14-3, the Toronto Blue Jays lost a big one to the Boston Red Sox. A combination of terrible pitching and untimely hitting ruined their chances of gaining ground on the wild-card leading Red Sox.

Shaun Marcum struggled mightily in today's game against the Red Sox, showing no control of his pitches and getting more and more frustrated as the game went on.

Despite the Red Sox being able to score early, the Jays were the ones leading after one inning of play when Alex Rios nailed a two-run shot, his 10th home run of the season.

The lead held up through three innings, until Shaun Marcum's start came crashing down. He gave up four runs in the fourth inning, including one when he hit Alex Cora on the back with the bases loaded. Giving up free runs is not something you want to do against Boston.

The Jays were able to come back in their half of the fourth inning with two runs of their own on a two-run Lyle Overbay homer, but it proved to be too little, too late. Brian Tallet ended up giving up one run in his two innings of work, and Shawn Camp gave up two runs in his two innings of work.

Shaun Marcum finished the game with only three-and-two-thirds inning pitched, and he gave up a dreadful five runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out only two batters.

Paul Byrd fared much better in his third start against the Blue Jays in two weeks, as he went six innings, giving up four runs on six hits, with two walks and four strikeouts.

Justin Masterson, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon all finished with scoreless innings to preserve the lead for Boston.

Up next: Jesse Litsch (8-7) takes on Jon Lester (12-4) in the second game of this three-game set.