NEWS » and taken a knee prior to scoring, th

TORONTO -- A milestone win for Rick Porcello gave the Boston Red Sox some breathing room atop the AL East.Porcello pitched seven innings to become the first 20-game winner in the majors, Hanley Ramirez hit a three-run homer and the Red Sox increased their AL East lead to two games by routing the Toronto Blue Jays 13-3 on Friday night.Xander Bogaerts homered and Dustin Pedroia had three hits and four RBI as the Red Sox used 18 hits to rough up the sloppy, slumping Blue Jays in the opener of a pivotal three-game series between the divisions top two teams.Porcello (20-3) allowed two runs and six hits to become Bostons first 20-game winner since Josh Beckett in 2007.Its definitely a huge honor, Porcello said. Its hard to win one game in the big leagues, let alone 20. Im definitely very proud of that.Porcello has worked at least seven innings and held opponents to three earned runs or fewer in nine consecutive starts, the longest streak by a Red Sox pitcher since Pedro Martinez did it in 11 straight in 2000.Just a model of consistency, Red Sox manager John Farrell said. He keeps rolling along and we play with a lot of confidence. His execution has been outstanding. Hes pitching with average velocity but his location is tremendous.Porcello said he had received a number of congratulatory text messages, but had one he was going to respond to right away.Ive got to call my parents, he said. Thats first and foremost.Porcello came in 6-7 with a 5.27 ERA in 15 career games against Toronto but kept the Blue Jays in check.The Red Sox broke it open by scoring six runs in a 10-batter seventh. Bogaerts hit a leadoff drive off Scott Feldman, his 18th. Three batters later, Ramirez connected off Feldman, his 22nd. Pedroia capped the rally with a two-run single off Ryan Tepera.Boston (79-61) surpassed its win total from a last-place finish in 2015, when it went 78-84.Toronto, which was swept in a three-game series at Yankee Stadium earlier this week, fell to 1-6 in September. The Blue Jays had won six of their previous eight against the Red Sox.We havent necessarily been playing good baseball the last week but I still believe, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.Blue Jays right-hander Marco Estrada (8-8) allowed four runs, three earned, and six hits in 2 1/3 innings, his shortest outing of the season. The last time Estrada failed to finish three innings was June 30, 2015, also a home loss to Boston.He was off, no question about it, Gibbons said. He lives on the edges and he was just missing.Estrada is 3-5 with a 5.32 ERA in nine starts since being named an All-Star for the first time. He missed the All-Star Game after being placed on the disabled list because of a sore back.Nothing went our way today and obviously it started with me, Estrada said.PARKA FOR PAPIBlue Jays sluggers Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion presented retiring Red Sox DH David Ortiz with a winter parka and a leather jacket before his final series in Toronto. Ortiz has 40 career home runs at Rogers Centre, more than any other road ballpark. Ive seen enough of him, Gibbons joked about Ortiz. The Blue Jays made a donation to Ortizs foundation.STREAKINGPedroia has at least one hit in 27 consecutive games against Toronto, the longest streak by any Blue Jays opponent.TRAINERS ROOMRed Sox: OF Andrew Benintendi (left knee) ran the bases before the game and will try sliding as early as Saturday. A very good day for him, Farrell said. There is still no timetable for Benintendis return. ... Boston recalled LHP Henry Owens from Triple-A Pawtucket.Blue Jays: C Russell Martin (left knee) was held out of the lineup. Martin aggravated the injury in Wednesdays loss at New York and was replaced by a pinch-hitter in the ninth. Hes still pretty sore, Gibbons said.UP NEXTRed Sox: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (2-6, 4.83) has a 2.73 ERA in nine starts since the All-Star break. Rodriguez is winless in his past five outings.Blue Jays: LHP J.A. Happ (17-4, 3.44) is winless in three starts since his 11-game winning streak ended Aug. 25. Happ won his only start against Boston this season, allowing one run in seven innings.Matthew Tkachuk Jersey . -- The Magic have their first victory of the new year. Brett Kulak Jersey . -- There were a lot of firsts for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. http://www.cheapflamesjerseyschina.com/ . Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored shootout goals, and backup goalie Cam Talbot earned his second win in two nights as the Rangers shook off a late tying tally and beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 Monday night. Sean Monahan Jersey . The Cleveland Indians, Tampa Bay Rays, and Texas Rangers all won on Sunday meaning the Rangers will host the Rays in a play-in game on Monday. Craig Conroy Jersey .1 million pounds ($61.2 million) on Saturday, giving the beleaguered English Premier League champions a major lift.The Bengals made a costly, and ultimately decisive, mistake on the Giants final drive of ?a 21-20 Cincinnati loss Monday night.On the play that sealed the game coming out of the two-minute warning, Giants running back Rashad Jennings should have been allowed to run for a touchdown and not get tackled. Once Jennings gained enough yards for a first down, the only way Cincinnati could have gotten the ball back would have been to allow the score. Otherwise, as we saw, the Giants could simply kneel out the clock.The Giants may have been aware of this tactic since the Patriots used it against them at the end of Super Bowl XLVI. But in this case, had Jennings been aware of the ruse and taken a knee prior to scoring, the Bengals still would have been no worse off than iff he were tackled -- New York would still have been able to go to the victory formation.dddddddddddd?Assume the score happened with 1:50 left to play, and that the Giants kicked the extra point to go up by eight points (28-20). Now Cincinnati has nearly two minutes to score a touchdown and execute a two-point conversion to tie. The Bengals would have less than a 5 percent chance of winning according to our win probability model, which would require scoring, successfully going for two and then winning in overtime. Those might not seem like great odds, but either way, the Bengals squandered them.Click here for more from ESPN Analytics.? ' ' '