All that added up to a 15-2 Blue Jays' pounding of the Sox, as Toronto tied a team record for runs at Fenway Park before a routinely groaning gathering of 35,302. The Jays scored in only three innings, plating four runs in the third, five in the sixth, and six in the seventh, sending the Sox to their worst loss since a 15-2 defeat to Oakland more than a year ago (May 27, 2004).
The bullpen's ERA has swelled to 5.47, with a stultifying 127 earned runs allowed in 207 innings. Five of six inherited runners scored last night, making it 45 of 98 this season. Sox relievers went into last night leading baseball in percentage of inherited runners allowed to score at 43.5, and that swelled to 45.9.
''I know it hasn't been great," Mark Bellhorn said of the bullpen's overall performance. ''They hear so much about that, that's all that they think about."
Presumably it's just about all Theo Epstein is thinking about, too, with the trade deadline 29 days away. The crushing blow last night -- OK, the most crushing blow -- was delivered by Reed Johnson.
Johnson, who hit a walkoff homer off Alan Embree May 24, managed to do something rare last night: sit on the bench for five innings and knock in six runs, anyhow. Johnson pinch hit in the sixth and launched a full-count grand slam off Myers, then knocked in two with a seventh-inning single. In his last four games vs. the Sox (May 24-26, and last night), Johnson is -- deep breath, everyone -- 7 for 14 with 3 home runs and 12 RBIs.
''It doesn't matter to this point what we throw Reed Johnson," said Sox manager Terry Francona. ''He's one step ahead of us. We make an adjustment, and he's already there. And he hits everything we throw."
The grand slam, which landed in Row 1 of the Monster seats just to the right of the light tower in left-center, made it 9-1. The grand slam was Toronto's second this season, both against the Red Sox. The other was Gregg Zaun's April 9 blast off Blaine Neal.
