Based on Tuesday's pitching performances, it's unlikely Victor Zambrano will ever be mistaken for Josh Beckett.

Zambrano was raked for eight runs on four home runs as the hometown Toronto Blue Jays lost 9-2 to the Boston Red Sox before a crowd of 41,203 at the Rogers Centre.

Victor Zambrano wonders what went wrong during Tuesday's 9-2 setback.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

It was the seventh consecutive setback for Toronto, which has been outscored 53-24 during the skid.

"Not clicking at all — offensively, defensively and pitching," Blue Jays first baseman Lyle Overbay said. "We have got to get on the same page and make a run for it."

"We are going to go through some adverse times on this team," Blue Jays shortstop Royce Clayton said. "And it is not going to be the great stretches that define this season, it will be how we handle the down side."

The Blue Jays have won five of 19 games since April 18 and trail the the front-running Red Sox by 8½ games in the American League East Division.

"We still have about 130 games left," Blue Jays third baseman Troy Glaus said. "You can make a big turnaround in 130 games.

"You obviously do not want to dig yourself a hole at the beginning, but it doesn't really matter. It's only the final results that count."

Zambrano (0-2) surrendered eight hits and two walks in just 2 2/3 innings, including back-to-back homers off the bats of Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek.

Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia also homered off Zambrano, who signed Jan. 30 with Toronto.

"I was feeling pretty good," Zambrano said. "[But] it is hard when you don't throw the first pitch for a strike and get ahead in the count."

Beckett (7-0), meantime, breezed through seven innings, scattering five hits with five strikeouts and a walk.

He is the first Red Sox hurler to win his first seven starts since Mickey Harris in 1946.

"I have confidence in my ability, it is just a matter of showing it," Beckett said. "Once you get going, it's fun to come out if it's like this."

"It was a bad time to face Beckett," Blue Jays designated hitter Frank Thomas said. "He's rolling and he's dealing.

"I got no excuses. He stuck it up my [behind] with great breaking balls, and a great two-seamer that was running all over the place."

Alex Rios led off the bottom of the first inning with his sixth homer of the season, but that was it off Beckett for the Blue Jays (13-19).

"To his credit, he reeled it back in in a hurry," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He made adjustments real quick, which is really good to see.

"We've been saying all along he has matured. He is a better pitcher."

Matt Stairs, a Fredericton native, singled in Toronto's other run off reliever Devern Hansack in the eighth inning.

"When things are going good, everything is easy," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "When things get tough, when you start struggling, you find out what you're made of."

"We're not panicking at all," Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said. "There's no magic wand to make everything right.

"We've got a good team, we believe in the guys we have. We'll start playing better baseball, I'm confident of that."

Winners in 9 of 12

Lowell and Pedroia drove in three runs apiece for the Red Sox (21-10), winners in nine of their last dozen games.

Julio Lugo provided a run-scoring double off reliever Jason Frasor in the eighth inning.

Lugo singled to open the contest, but was thrown out by rookie left-fielder Adam Lind trying to stretch it into a double.

That brought up Youkilis, who belted a solo homer to centre off Zambrano, his third.

After Rios did likewise to tie it 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning, the Red Sox rallied for three runs off Zambrano with two out in the second.

Varitek lined a single and Coco Crisp walked to bring up Pedroia, who lofted a Zambrano offering over the left-field wall for a three-run homer, his first.

Boston tallied three more runs in identical fashion in the fourth inning, except this time Manny Ramirez singled with two out and J.D. Drew walked to bring up Lowell, who whacked a three-run homer to left.

It was Lowell's fifth of the season, and Varitek followed it with his third to make it back-to-back homers.

"Those are definitely dagger killers," Thomas said. "When they go in your chest, they hurt really bad."

Varitek finished 4-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored and an RBI. 

Youkilis had three hits in three at-bats, but was forced to leave in the sixth inning when he was plunked above the left knee by reliever Casey Janssen.

With files from Sports Network