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Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Matt Boyd walks off the field after being pulled from the game against Boston Red Sox during first inning American League action in Toronto on Thursday, July 2, 2015.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press

Matt Boyd should dedicate the second start of his Major League baseball career to everyone who's ever had a bad day or night.

As bad nights go, the Toronto Blue Jays starter had one for the ages.

Funny thing, though. It didn't start out too badly for the 24-year-old. Boyd came out Thursday night at the Rogers Centre and fired two strikes past the Boston Red Sox' leadoff hitter, centre fielder Mookie Betts. Then Betts singled to left. Well, okay, no real damage, and Boyd promptly went 0-2 on the next batter, second baseman Brock Holt.

That is when it went sideways. Holt singled to left. Then shortstop Xander Bogaerts singled to centre. Next up was Big Papi, David Ortiz. You knew how that was going to go. Grand slam to left field. Then it was Hanley Ramirez's turn. He blasted a towering drive into the left-field seats for his 16th home run of the American League season.

Five batters, five runs. But it wasn't over yet for Boyd. The left-hander gave up another single, to Pablo Sandoval, broke his string of hits with a walk to Mike Napoli and it was 7-0 Boston. Seven batters, seven runs and there still wasn't a single out. That put Boyd into the team's record book as the first Blue Jay starter to give up seven earned runs without recording an out.

At that point, Jays manager John Gibbons came to Boyd's rescue, summoning right-hander Liam Hendriks to try and douse a five-alarm fire. Hendriks didn't last long in what became a parade of relievers and despite a couple of comeback attempts, the Jays went on to drop a 12-6 decision to the Red Sox along with the series.

As Boyd made his trance-like march to the Toronto dugout, the grim numbers came over the press-box loudspeaker. Zero innings pitched, six hits, seven runs, all earned, one walk. Not to mention a tidy 214.85 ERA. No, that is not a typo. Nor is it something you will include in the family album, although some of the family was there to suffer along with Boyd.

What seemed like a dream season for Boyd, who started at the Jays' farm team in New Hampshire and held opposing Double A batters to a .155 average before he was promoted to the Triple A Buffalo Bisons on June 13. After two starts for the Bisons, Boyd was called up to Toronto for his major-league debut, thanks to the Blue Jays' wobbly pitching, and that is where that whole Cinderella thing fell apart.

Boyd did manage seven strikeouts in his big-league debut, which tied a club record, but he also coughed up a three-run homer and wound up 0-1. And now this.

No one would have blamed Boyd if he walked through the Blue Jays dugout, kept going until he hit the pub across the street and pulled up a stool at the bar, uniform and all.

The coup de grace came after the game when the Jays told Boyd they were sending him back to Buffalo. "He's just on his first go-round. As tough as it is, sometimes you've got to let that go. You've got to wipe that clean, go back down and pick up where you left off. It's a man's game, a tough business and sometimes you have to take the bad with the good, too."

If Boyd did quite sensibly repair to the pub across the street, he made it back to the Jays clubhouse for the post-game interviews, although he still appeared shell-shocked despite some brave words.

"Baseball doesn't define who I am," he said. "It's my living, it's the game I play. I'm just grateful for another day to go out there and bounce back." Even if that day will have to come in Buffalo, he could have added.

Boyd said he felt good, especially after getting two strikes on the first batter, but "I just didn't make my pitches and guys hit 'em."

And yes, when lobbed that old chestnut about finding something positive in all of this, Boyd swung at it: "Without a doubt, count on me being better from this," he said. "This won't happen again."

But Boyd's implosion did not appear to have much effect on the crowd of 29,758. After all, they are getting used to big comebacks by the slugging Jays this season. The night before, the Jays won their only game of the Boston series, 11-2, with a typical pounding of the Red Sox pitchers.

Indeed, the Jays came back in the second inning with four runs to cut Boston's lead to 8-4 but it was all on singles. The boom was not in the bats this time. At least not until the ninth inning when Russell Martin and Danny Valencia hit back-to-back homers and Kevin Pillar doubled, although that comeback died there.

Also having an early night was Gibbons. He got himself tossed from the game in the fifth inning after arguing a video review of a call by home plate umpire Gerry Davis. After a long review, it was ruled Boston catcher Ryan Hanigan made the tag on the Jays Danny Valencia. Gibbons challenged the call but Valencia was the third out of the inning. This was especially painful after the Jays lost a challenge earlier in the inning to Boston when catcher Russell Martin was ruled out by the replay crew after initially being called safe at first.

The Jays bullpen coughed up some more runs in the seventh inning, compliments of Steve Delabar, who could not find the plate. He finished his two-thirds of an inning with three wild pitches. This may have brought some comfort to Boyd, who only had one.

Boyd wasn't the only pitcher to get bad news after the game. Right-hander Todd Redmond was designated for reassignment. The Jays said there will be more moves Friday to get the roster to the 25-man limit.

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