Blue Jays' bats come alive in rout of Red Sox win as Toronto finally celebrates making playoffs

George Springer had a three-run homer as part of a four-run inning as the Toronto Blue Jays routed the Boston Red Sox 9-0 on Friday.

Raimel Tapia had a solo home run to lead off the sixth inning for Toronto (88-69), after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a two-run shot in the third.

Bo Bichette had two hits, driving in one run, to reach 48 hits in the month of September to set a new Blue Jays record.

Alek Manoah (16-7) pitched six innings, giving up just two hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Yusei Kikuchi threw three scoreless innings of relief.

Nick Pivetta (10-12) gave up four runs on six hits and three walks, striking out two, over five innings of work for Boston (75-82).

Reliever Tyler Danish allowed four more runs, before Franklin German finished out the game for the Red Sox.

Toronto locked up a playoff spot Thursday afternoon when the Baltimore Orioles lost to Boston 5-3. That defeat eliminated Baltimore from the playoffs and guaranteed Toronto a post-season appearance but the Blue Jays had Thursday off, meaning they couldn't celebrate as a team.

Toronto interim manager John Schneider said before Friday's win that his team intended to celebrate clinching a post-season berth, regardless of Friday's result.

"I think whenever you have a chance to do that you have to embrace it. You have to not ignore it," said Schneider before Friday's game. "That doesn't happen all the time and I can't wait to have a good time with that group."

The Blue Jays have five more regular-season games with Toronto still vying for home-field advantage in the American League wild card series. After the three-game set against Boston, the Blue Jays will travel to Baltimore to close out the regular season.

Bichette thinks it's important to