Sat Apr 5 16:58:39 2008

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Thomas, Eckstein power Blue Jays past Red Sox

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Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Frank Thomas hit a two-run homer and David Eckstein went 2-for-5 with three RBI as the Toronto Blue Jays hammered the Boston Red Sox, 10-2, in the middle of a three-game series at Rogers Centre.

Alex Rios chipped in with a pair of doubles, an RBI and run scored for the Blue Jays, who have won three of their last four.

Jesse Litsch (1-0) was effective in earning the win. He surrendered two runs on five hits over five-plus innings. The right-hander fanned two and walked three. The Toronto bullpen allowed only three hits in four innings of relief work.

Manny Ramirez had a RBI double, while Dustin Pedroia and J.D. Drew each had a pair of hits for Boston, which dropped two straight.

Buchholz (0-1) went five innings, giving up four runs -- three earned -- on six hits, while striking out seven and walking two in the loss.

After Litsch retired the first two Red Sox in the first, David Ortiz walked and Ramirez followed with a run-scoring double to left, giving Boston the early lead.

Lyle Overbay's lined single to center chased home Vernon Wells in the second to tie things at 1-1. The Blue Jays were bidding for more, but with runners on the corners and nobody out, Buchholz settled down to get Aaron Hill and Marco Scutaro on strikes and forced Greg Zaun to pop out to avoid further trouble.

Boston took a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Drew led off the frame with a double to center and advanced to third on a ground out by Jason Varitek. Sean Casey then followed with a single to plate the go-ahead run.

However, the Blue Jays answered with three in the bottom half of the inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Zaun's grounder to first was booted by Casey allowing two runs to score and an Eckstein base hit chased home another to put the Blue Jays ahead 4-2.

Toronto broke things open in the sixth, scoring six times. With runners on second and third and one down, Eckstein's single scored a pair. After Matt Stairs flied out, Rios laced a run-scoring double to left and came around to score on Wells' base hit to make it 8-2. Thomas' two-run homer to center put the home team up by an eight-run margin.

Game Notes

Attendance 35,238...Casey finished 1-for-4 with an RBI for Boston...The Red Sox will play their home opener on Tuesday versus the Detroit Tigers...Toronto split its 18 matchups with Boston last season, but has gone 33-23 against them since the start of the 2005 campaign, including an 18-11 mark at Rogers Centre in that time.