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BOS@TOR: Big Papi jacks a three-run shot to right

TORONTO -- Red Sox hitters showed no mercy as they torched the Blue Jays' pitching staff for 18 hits and won their eighth game in a row, 16-4, on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre.

David Ortiz and Jason Varitek both hit three-run homers in a seven-run fifth, and every batter in the Red Sox starting lineup except for Jed Lowrie finished with at least a base hit. Boston posted double-digit runs for the fifth time this season and has outscored opponents, 53-31, on its eight-game win streak.

John Lackey, meanwhile, picked up the easy win, giving up four runs on six hits while striking out eight over six innings. It was the 32-year-old's second straight win since coming off the disabled list earlier this month.

Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow, on the other hand, was significantly less efficient.

The Red Sox reached base just twice in the first two innings, but jumped all over Morrow in the third, batting around and scoring four runs on four hits.

With one out, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia hit back-to-back singles in front of Adrian Gonzalez, who doubled to cash Ellsbury and open the scoring. It was Gonzalez's Major League-leading 58th RBI and gave him at least one RBI in each of his last eight games.

Ortiz was intentionally walked to load the bases for Lowrie, who fell behind 0-2 but was plunked in the back of the left knee by Morrow to earn a painful RBI. Carl Crawford added one more with a sacrifice fly before Marco Scutaro drove in another with a single.

Boston added one more in the fourth when Pedroia doubled in Varitek from first base, extending his hit streak to six games. Pedroia finished 3-for-5 with a walk and three RBIs to push his batting average in the month of June to .406. The 27-year-old is 6-for-9 with four RBIs in the first two games of this series.

The Red Sox put the game well out of reach in the fifth, batting around for the second time and using the three-run homers from Varitek and Ortiz to make it 12-2 at the halfway point.

Varitek's homer was a fly ball to right-center field that just scraped over the wall, while Ortiz's was a hard line drive that left the park before he could even make it halfway to first base.

As the fireworks continued from Boston's hitters, Lackey was quietly efficient, giving up a pair of runs on a Rajai Davis double in the fourth and another pair in the sixth on Edwin Encarnacion's second home run of the season.

Lackey allowed the leadoff man to reach base in the first, second and fifth, but retired the next three batters each time to keep the Blue Jays in check.

The Red Sox added three more runs in the eighth on Ellsbury's groundout and Pedroia's two-run double down the right-field line.

Arden Zwelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.