Alex Rios goes 4 for 4, drives in go-ahead run as Blue Jays beat Red Sox 5-3

Rios gets 4 hits, Blue Jays beat Red Sox 5-3

TORONTO — Alex Rios had four hits and drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, leading Brian Tallet and the Toronto Blue Jays to a 5-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.

Toronto won its second straight after a nine-game losing streak and has now won six consecutive games at home, where it is 18-6 overall.

With the score tied 3-all, the Blue Jays went ahead with a two-run seventh against Ramon Ramirez (4-2). Marco Scutaro led off with an infield single, went to second on a wild pitch and scored when Rios singled to center. Vernon Wells followed with an RBI double.

Rios hit an RBI single in the first, doubled and scored in the third and doubled in the fifth before sparking the seventh-inning rally. He finished 4 for 4.

Tallet (3-3) won for the first time in four starts, allowing three runs and three hits in seven innings. He walked four and struck out six.

Rocco Baldelli homered for Boston but left with an injured knee after slamming into the fence while trying to catch a foul ball.

Shaky early, Tallet gave up all his runs and walks in the first two innings. He settled down after that by retiring 13 of the next 14 batters and not allowing another hit until Nick Green’s two-out double in the seventh.

Brandon League pitched the eighth and Scott Downs worked around a leadoff single in the ninth to earn his seventh save in eight chances.

Mike Lowell gave Boston a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first but Toronto answered with Rios’ RBI single in the bottom half.

Baldelli hit a two-run homer in the second, but Red Sox starter Brad Penny couldn’t hold the lead.

The Blue Jays got one back in the third when Rios doubled and scored on a two-out single by Adam Lind, then tied it on Lind’s leadoff homer in the sixth, his eighth.

Penny allowed three runs, two earned, and 10 hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out five.

Baldelli came out in the fifth after he injured his left knee trying to make a sliding catch down the right-field line. He slammed hard into the low, padded wall just as he made the grab but the impact jarred the ball loose. After being examined on the field by trainer Paul Lessard, Baldelli walked slowly to the dugout and was taken for X-rays, which were negative. J.D. Drew took over in right.

Boston’s Kevin Youkilis came in leading the AL with a .374 average but went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, dropping his average to .362.

Also struggling was Boston designated hitter David Ortiz. Batting sixth for the fifth straight game, Ortiz went 0 for 4 and struck out twice, dropping his average to .185.