Jays swamp Red Sox

But none of it fell into place. Bowden was hit hard, the Blue Jays got out to an 11-5 lead, and the game was called in the bottom of the seventh following a 1:02 rain delay, handing the Sox their fourth straight loss.

Bowden had pitched Friday against the Yankees, but this was his chance to begin carving out a spot in the future of Boston’s starting rotation.

It didn’t turn out like he wanted.

“I felt great. There was no excuse,’’ said Bowden, who allowed seven runs in three innings in taking the loss. “I wasn’t throwing pitches when I needed to. I was getting ahead of some guys, and other pitches I was leaving up in the zone. It was just kind of a snowball thing after that. I wasn’t throwing with conviction. I was given an opportunity today to start and I did everything except take advantage of it.

“I let the team down. I didn’t keep the team in the ballgame. It’s a terrible feeling.’’

The 23-year-old righthander had a 7.84 ERA in six games in relief for the Sox, but he was racked for four first-inning runs. What the Sox had hoped for from Bowden was a start more like the first one of his career, Aug. 30 of last season, when he beat Mark Buehrle and the White Sox, 8-2, a five-inning stint in which he allowed two runs on seven hits.

Did the late notice bother him?

“They could have told me at 7:05 that I was starting and that would have been enough time for me to put together a better performance than this,’’ Bowden said. “It was inexcusable. It was just bad.’’

Bowden retired leadoff hitter Jose Bautista in the first, but the Jays pounded five straight hits, beginning with Aaron Hill’s 35th homer. That was followed by a Wall single by Adam Lind, a Vernon Wells double, a single by Edwin Encarnacion, and a double by Lyle Overbay. The only salvation for Bowden was that he struck out Rod Barajas and Travis Snider to end the inning. After a 1-2-3 second, he came undone again in the third. A walk and a two-out single by Overbay set the stage for Barajas’s three-run homer. Bowden got through the third, but that was it for him after 67 pitches, none thrown very well.