Boston Red Sox thrash Toronto Blue Jays to continue hot start to season

The Boston Red Sox improved their MLB-best record to 19-8 as they crushed the Toronto Blue Jays 10-1 at the Rogers Centre.

Clay Buchholz tossed seven scoreless innings and support came in the form of two home runs from Mike Napoli and further shots from Stephen Drew and Daniel Nava.

The win keeps Boston top of the AL East and two games clear of the New York Yankees, who edged out the Houston Astros 5-4.

The Baltimore Orioles lost ground in the division battle as they lost 8-3 to the Seattle Mariners, falling behind early on as Aaron Harang held them to two runs in six innings.

There was also defeat for the other AL East team as the Tampa Bay Rays were edged out 9-8 by the Kansas City Royals.

That moved the Royals to the top of the AL Central, overtaking the Detroit Tigers who lost 6-2 to the third-placed Minnesota Twins.

Minnesota kept their noses in front of the Cleveland Indians, who shut out the Philadelphia Phillies in a 6-0 victory.

The Chicago White Sox claimed a 5-2 win over the Texas Rangers, who remain two games clear in the AL West after the Oakland Athletics were edged out 5-4 by the Los Angeles Angels.

Lance Lynn recorded his fifth win of the season as the St Louis Cardinals topped the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 to stay top of the NL Central, just a half-game ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates who beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-4 on the back of a four-run eighth inning.

Scott Feldman tossed a complete game, giving up two runs as the Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 6-2 at Wrigley Field.

Coming off his first career shutout, Jordan Zimmerman tossed eight scoreless innings to help the Washington Nationals to a 2-0 win over the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves, closing the gap to 3.5 games.

Elsewhere, the New York Mets took a 7-6 victory over the Miami Marlins, the San Francisco Giants pulled away late on to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-6 and the Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-3.