Blue Jays' bats explode early in sweep of Red Sox

Raimel Tapia had three hits and drove in four runs, giving him 10 RBIs for the series, and Vladimir Guerrero had four hits for the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday as they pounded the bumbling Boston Red Sox 8-4 to complete a three-game sweep.

Two days after Tapia had an inside-the-park grand slam in a record-setting 28-5 victory, he had a bases-loaded triple to spot Toronto to a 5-0 lead off top Boston prospect Brayan Bello (0-2) — one of five players in the Red Sox lineup who started the season in the minors.

The Blue Jays also took advantage of three errors and a series of other blunders by Boston, which is just a half-game out of last place in the AL East.

On the day David Ortiz was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame about a four-hour drive to the west, the Red Sox lost their fifth straight game, their ninth of the last 10 and 13th out of 16. Boston, which was a season-high 11 games above .500 on June 27, has not won a series against an AL East opponent in 12 tries this season.

Wilting in the 98-degree heat and already trailing 5-1, the Red Sox were booed by the home crowd in the second inning, after George Springer stole second base and took third when Christian Vazquez's throw went into the outfield and was kicked around there by left fielder Franchy Cordero.

Tim Mayza (4-0) earned the win as the most effective reliever after inducing a double play in the seventh. Toronto starter Ross Stripling allowed two runs in four innings before reliever Trevor Richards gave up two more, when Jarren Duran tripled and scored in the fifth, then Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a solo homer in the sixth to make it 8-4.

But the biggest cheer of the day was when a clip from Ortiz's acceptance speech was played on the scoreboard.

The Red Sox