The Toronto Blue Jays completed their three game home series with the Boston Red Sox early this afternoon at the Rogers Centre in Toronto with a 6-5 victory over their division rival.

The Jays came into the contest having lost the first two games of the series by scores of 7-5 on Tuesday night and were manhandled 10-1 on Wednesday evening.

The Jays sent young left-hander Brad Mills to the mound to square off against the Red Sox veteran right-hander John Lackey.

Mills had the Red Sox off balance at times, recording seven strikeouts, but the patience of Boston’s offense combined with power courtesy of David Ortiz created an early exit for Mills, who lasted just four and a third innings, allowing four earned runs on seven hits, walking two.

Ortiz was two for five overall with a home run, a very long single, a run scored and two runs batted in, with it all coming off of Mills.

Lackey was sensational for Boston allowing two runs through eight innings, but when he came out for the ninth inning with a 5-2 lead, a questionable decision by Red Sox manager Terry Francona, things fell apart for Lackey as he exited the game after allowing another run on Jose Bautista’s American League leading 36th home run.

Jonathan Papelbon would enter the game for Boston, which the Jays certainly were not looking forward to, as Papelbon had never blown a save against the Blue Jays in his career.

On the sweltering hot Thursday afternoon the Jays fortunes changed as the team took apart Papelbon, scoring three runs off the closer on four hits.

Vernon Wells kicked off the Papelbon dismantling hitting a double to right field. Adam Lind than singled up the middle scoring Wells and was replaced with a pinch runner in the form of DeWayne Wise, who stole second base. Aaron Hill would drill an infield single off the foot of Papelbon pushing Wise to third. After Travis Snider struck out, Edwin Encarnacion would hit a game tying double into the left field corner. Papelbon would finally get the yank after intentionally walking pinch-hitter Lyle Overbay to load the bases as a raucous Toronto crowd screamed obscenities at the player upon his exit.

Toronto lead-off man Fred Lewis would come to the plate to square off against the flame thrower Daniel Bard and would hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to centre field earning Toronto their only win of the series, which gave the team some momentum as they prepared for an upcoming west coast road trip.

Kevin Gregg, who pitched the ninth inning in a non-save situation, would earn the win, with Papelbon recording his fifth loss of the season to go along with his sixth blown save.

David Purcey (1.2IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K), Jason Frasor (1IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K) & Scott Downs (1IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 0K) all got in work as well.

Purcey left the game after injuring his right ankle after leaping to make a catch on a high Adam Lind throw while covering first base in the top of the sixth inning. Purcey’s ankle, as well as foot, are terribly swollen with an x-ray to determine the extent of the damage tomorrow.

The Jays will hope to carry the momentum of their victory on Thursday into Los Angeles on Friday as they take on the Angels in a three game road series.

Friday’s starting pitching match-up will feature the Jays Marc Rzepczynski (0-1, 7.15ERA) squaring off against the Angels Scott Kazmir (8-9, 6.57ERA).

The game is scheduled to begin at 10:05pm EST.

In other Jays news first baseman Lyle Overbay has cleared trade waivers, which means the player is once again eligible to be traded as the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline has passed. If Overbay was to be traded an opposing team would have to acquire him before August 31st in order to add him to their playoff roster. Overbay is owed $2 million for the remainder of the season and teams such as the Red Sox and New York Yankees could be interested in the veteran first baseman.