None of that mattered much once the game actually got going. Gray settled into his usual rhythm working off the fastball-sweeper combo that's carried his whole season, and Toronto had to manufacture instead of blow the doors off.
Charles McAdoo cracked a solo homer in the fifth to open the scoring, and Andres Gimenez added an RBI single in the sixth to make it 2-0. The bigger story came in the fourth, when Taillon left with right forearm discomfort after striking out 3 and allowing just 1 hit and 3 walks — a concerning exit for a guy still auditioning for a rotation spot down the stretch. Boston finally got on the board in the seventh when Anthony Seigler came around to score, but it was too little against a Toronto bullpen that never cracked.
Louis Varland slammed the door for his 25th save, and that bullpen strength ended up being the actual difference — Toronto got saved by its relief corps on a night its starter didn't finish the fourth. For Boston, Gray did his job and still walked away with nothing to show for it, extending a lineup slump that had already cost the Red Sox their previous 2 games.
Taillon's forearm scare is the thing to watch now — Toronto can't afford to lose another arm with its rotation already stretched thin by Yesavage, Berrios and Francis all out. Boston, for its part, gets Rutschman back as soon as Tuesday, which at least gives an offense that's gone cold one real jolt of reinforcement.