BOSTON -- R.A. Dickeys knuckleball is proving to be quite el

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BOSTON -- R.A. Dickeys knuckleball is proving to be quite elusive these days. Dickey pitched into the eighth inning and Jose Bautista hit a three-run homer, carrying the Toronto Blue Jays to a much-needed 3-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday. "Weve said before that its kind of a hit and miss pitch," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "Some pitches flatten out and some hang more than others. A lot of it is the luck of the draw, too." Dickey (12-12) allowed one run and six hits. The knuckleballer was pulled after Mookie Betts leadoff double in the eighth. Dickey improved 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his last three starts and 4-0 with a 2.23 ERA against Boston this season. With his pitch dancing in a light breeze, he had a number of Bostons hitters taking big swings that led to many misses, weak grounders or popups. "As far as a mechanical adjustment, its nothing thats outstanding," Dickey said of his recent run. "Youre always working on your trade." Adam Lind added three hits for the Blue Jays, who dropped the first two games of the series after five consecutive wins. The Blue Jays were six games behind Seattle for the ALs second wild card coming into the day. Xander Bogaerts had an RBI single for the defending World Series champion Red Sox, who were eliminated from the AL East race by Baltimores 7-5 win at Tampa Bay. Bostons Rubby De La Rosa (4-6) gave up three runs and seven hits in four-plus innings. The right-hander is 0-2 with a 6.20 ERA in his last five starts. "I thought prior to the fifth inning he used all his pitches well," Boston manager John Farrell said. "He pitched out of a couple of jams, continued to show very good poise. The 2-0 slider to Bautista, unfortunately, nicks him for three runs." Brett Cecil worked a hitless eighth and Casey Janssen tossed a perfect ninth for his 22nd save. Bautista chased De La Rosa with his 31st homer, a drive over the Green Monster seats and completely out of Fenway Park. "Yeah, I missed that pitch, tried to throw that pitch like away to him so its not in the middle," De La Rosa said. Bostons hitters had little luck with Dickey early on, collecting just three singles in the first five innings. Jackie Bradley Jr. had the hardest hit ball, a deep drive to the wall in centre that was caught with two runners on in the second. VERY CONSISTENT Dickey made his 30th start of the season. Its his fourth straight with 30 or more. "Hes very durable and gave us what we needed today," Gibbons said. LOVES FENWAY Bautista has 20 career homers at Fenway, second-most of any active opponent. He went 3 for 4 while extending his hitting streak to 11 games. TRAINERS ROOM Blue Jays: 1B Edwin Encarnacion was the designated hitter after being lifted for a pinch runner late in Saturdays loss. He has been bothered by a right quad injury. Red Sox: Boston 1B Mike Napoli and INF/OF Brock Holt both were out of the lineup after feeling ill the past couple of days. Holt left Fridays game early and Napoli departed on Saturday. Farrell said both were feeling "much better." DH David Ortiz had a planned day off, but Farrell said they also were "managing that right foot he fouled a couple of balls off recently." Two weeks ago, Ortiz went down hard and left the game after fouling a ball off his foot. He was out of the lineup for two games. UP NEXT Blue Jays: RHP Marcus Stroman (9-5, 3.83 ERA) is slated to go against RHP Jacob Turner (5-8, 5.54 ERA) on Monday when Toronto opens a three-game series at home against the Cubs. Red Sox: RHP Joe Kelly (1-1, 3.89 ERA) is scheduled to start the opener of a three-game set in Fenway against AL East-leading Baltimore. Miguel Gonzalez (8-7, 3.38 ERA) gets the ball for the Orioles. THREE KNUCKLEBALLERS IN THE PARK Dickey and Boston reliever Steven Wright both mostly throw knuckleballs and pitched in the game. Former Red Sox RHP Tim Wakefield watched from the press box. Wright pitched five shutout innings, allowing two hits. "To be honest with you. He had a better knuckleball than I did tonight," Dickey said of Wright. The Red Sox said in their postgame notes that Dickey and Wright became the first knuckleballers to face each other in the majors since Wakefield started and Dickey entered in relief with Minnesota on April 22, 2009. Gale Sayers Bears Jersey .com) - Devon Johnson ran for a school record 272 yards with four touchdowns and No. Tarik Cohen Youth Jersey . Bilbaos first victory in four rounds lifted it four points clear of Real Sociedad and kept it in command of Spains last Champions League berth for next season. 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Curtis Dickson scored once and set up three more for Calgary and Dan MacRae, Geoff Snider, Tor Reinholdt, Karsen Leung and Matthew Dinsdale.ATLANTA -- For all that Jason Heyward did well, his diving catch in the eighth inning felt the best. Heyward homered and drove in two runs, Andrelton Simmons had two RBIs, and the Atlanta Braves won their third straight game with a 6-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night. "If they keep having (at-bats), maybe they put up another run or two," Heyward said. "Defence is going to win the game at the end of the day, but its good to score runs, and it got us going a little bit." Returning from the All-Star break, the Braves moved one game ahead of Washington in the NL East. Last-place Philadelphia dropped 11 games behind Atlanta. Jimmy Rollins led off the eighth with a walk against Jordan Walden, the third Atlanta pitcher, but was thrown out at second base on Chase Utleys strikeout. Heyward, the right fielder, then charged in to make a diving catch of Ryan Howards liner. "You get so used to seeing him make those kinds of plays," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said of the 2012 Gold Glove winner. "Thats why for me he might be the best right fielder, if not in the (majors), definitely in the National League." The game was played in a steady drizzle, but the rain had nearly stopped when Braves closer Craig Kimbrel earned his 30th save in 34 chances. He got Marlon Byrd on a groundout and struck out Grady Sizemore and Cody Asche. Ervin Santana (8-6) gave up six hits, three walks and four runs -- three earned -- in six innings to win for the third time in four starts. He struck out one. Phillies starter A.J. Burnett (6-9) allowed six runs, 10 hits -- the last nine with two out -- and one walk in five innings. He had five strikeouts as Philadelphia lost its third straight. Burnett was clearly mad at himself as he walked off the field after the fifth. "Six runs in five innings pretty much nails it on the head," he said.dddddddddddd"I was in counts where I should have made pitches and I didnt. Thats the bottom line. I made pitches to get to that point, didnt make pitches after that. I dont have excuses. I didnt get it done." The Phillies led 2-0 in the second on Asches sacrifice fly and Cameron Rupps RBI single, but they trailed 4-2 in the bottom half after Heyward hit his ninth homer, B.J. Upton had an RBI single, and Simmons drove in two runs with a double. Atlanta made it 6-2 in the fifth on RBI singles by Heyward and Tommy La Stella. "They clumped (hits) together and put the four runs and two runs up in that fashion," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "Not the start we wanted the second half. We had some good at-bats, though." Philadelphia cut the lead to 6-4 in the sixth. Rollins reached on first baseman Freddie Freemans fielding error and moved to third on Utleys double. Both runners scored on Howards broken-bat, two-run bloop single. NOTES: Atlanta requested unconditional release waivers before the game on former All-Star 2B Dan Uggla. The Braves still owe Uggla, who hit .162 with two home runs and 10 RBI in 130 at-bats this year, over $18 million through the end of next season. ... Gonzalez said C Evan Gattis, on the disabled list with a back injury, is scheduled to get about 12 at-bats over the next three days and play in the field for two games as he continues a rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett. If he has no setbacks, Gattis will be activated for Mondays game against Miami. ... Phillies LHP Cliff Lee, after missing nine weeks with a strained left elbow, says he is ready to return to the rotation for his start Monday at home against San Francisco. ... The Braves recalled utility man Tyler Pastornicky to take Ugglas spot on the 25-man roster. ' ' '