Blue Jays Rally Past Red Sox

With his team in a rut, Carlos Delgado provided a much-speeded spark for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Delgado hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning as the Blue Jays rallied to beat the Boston Red Sox 9-6 Sunday for just their fourth win in 12 games.

"We've been through some hard times, we've been losing, we've had guys hurt, so we had to battle," Delgado said. "It was a big game for us and hopefully we can turns things around and start from here."

Alex Gonzalez led off the ninth with a walk off Kip Gross (0-2). Shawn Green followed with a sharp single to right, sending Gonzalez to third. Delgado then hit Gross' next pitch into the second deck for his 10th homer.

"It was just plain ugly," Gross said.

Graeme Lloyd (3-1) pitched a hitless ninth for the Blue Jays, who rallied from 4-1 and 6-4 deficits to tie the game in the eighth inning.

"I think the way we won it was better than if we won 15-0," Green said. "It's good to get the feeling back that we had in the first couple of weeks."

After Delgado singled to lead off the eighth, Derek Lowe relieved Mark Guthrie and walked Tony Fernandez. One out later, Lowe walked Cruz to load the bases and pinch-hitter Kevin Witt followed with a two-run single to tie it at 6.

"I got a big hit but with one pitch Delgado took the load off our shoulders," Witt said.

Reggie Jefferson homered and had three RBIs for Boston, which fell one game behind the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East. The Red Sox had won three straight and nine of 10.

"We can't get down about losing one game, the team's playing to good to be worried about this," Jefferson said.

The Blue Jays trailed 4-1 in the sixth when starter Pat Rapp issued a leadoff walk to Shawn Green. Cormier relieved and one out later gave up a double to Tony Fernandez to put runners on second and third.

Pinch-hitter Pat Kelly's sacrifice fly cut it to 4-2 and Cruz's sixth home of the season tied the game.

"He got a big home run that put us back in the game and hopefully he continues to do better," Delgado said.

Jefferson's third homer of the season, off reliever Paul Spoljaric, then gave Boston a 5-4 lead in the seventh. Boston added another run in the eighth when Jeff Frye was hit with a pitch with the bases loaded, but the bullpen couldn't protect the lead.

Toronto starter Kelvim Escobar gave up four runs on five hits in 4 2-3 innings. He walked four and struck out four in his shortest outing of the season.

When Joey Hamilton returns from the disabled list, Escobar may become the closer if rookie Roy Halladay remains in the rotation.

Rapp, who didn't get past the third inning in his previous two starts, allowed two runs and four hits in five-plus innings.

"It was a lot better than I've been pitching, but I just wish we had won the game," Rapp said.

The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the second on an RBI double by Mike Stanley. An RBI groundout by Homer Bush tied it before the Red Sox went up 4-1 in the fifth on an RBI single by Trot Nixon and a two-run double by Jefferson.

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