Behind rolling Porcello, Sox 2 up on Jays

TORONTO — The Red Sox staked their claim to first place in the American League East by soundly outplaying the Blue Jays in almost every facet of the game during their highly anticipated series opener on Friday night.

Right-hander Rick Porcello became the Majors’ first 20-game winner this season by limiting Toronto to a pair of runs while striking out seven over seven innings during Boston’s 13-3 victory. He scattered six hits and walked just one as the Red Sox increased their lead atop the division to two games over the second-place Blue Jays.

“It’s definitely a huge honor,” said Porcello, the first Boston pitcher to win 20 games since Josh Beckett in 2007. “It’s hard to win one game in the big leagues let alone 20. I’m very proud of that. At the same time, it’s collective. We had to swing the bats and play defense. It’s a complete team effort.”

Xander Bogaerts and Hanley Ramirez each homered while every member of the starting lineup reached base at least once. Dustin Pedroia had three hits and four RBIs from the leadoff spot. Boston scored at least once in each of the first four innings and in the seventh it broke the game open with six runs.

“You know what? We’re all sitting here with 22 games to play and every team is the team to beat right now,” said Red Sox manager John Farrell.

Blue Jays right-hander Marco Estrada could not pitch his way out of the third inning after being roughed up for the fourth time in his last five outings. Estrada allowed four runs — three earned — on six hits and three walks. Estrada, who allowed three earned runs or fewer in 18 of his first 20 starts, has allowed five or more in four of his last five starts while posting a 7.71 ERA.

Melvin Upton Jr. and Devon Travis each committed an error as the Blue Jays also experienced plenty of issues on defense throughout the night. Dioner Navarro was charged with a passed ball and Michael Saunders also had an issue handling Mookie Betts’ double in the first inning.

Detroit beat Baltimore, 4-3, on Friday night, which means Toronto leads both teams by one game for the top AL Wild Card spot.

“We didn’t play a very good game, that’s pretty obvious,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “Overall, it was just a blah, not very well played game. … It is uncharacteristic of us, so put it behind you. We haven’t seen that too often. I really can’t remember seeing a game like that in a long time.”

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDPorcello escapes big jam: In the bottom of the third, the Blue Jays looked primed to storm back from a 4-0 deficit. A two-run single by Travis made it a two-run game. There were still two on with one out, and Porcello (20-3, 3.21 ERA) had to deal with Toronto’s two most dangerous hitters. Josh Donaldson …

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