Marco Estrada took up where he left off last season, throwing the Blue Jays an early-season lifeline after four straight losses.  The Toronto right-hander, making his season debut after a sore back limited him in spring training, threw seven shutout innings and Josh Donaldson belted his fourth homer in a 3-0 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday before a Rogers Centre sellout of 46,158.  After three blown save opportunities by the bullpen and a difficult outing for knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, Toronto (3-4) needed some shutdown pitching. Estrada obliged in his 100th career start, showing why the Jays rewarded him in the off-season with a $26 million US, two-year contract.  "I really didn't know what to expect going into this game, the way his spring training went," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "But it was vintage Estrada. It really was."  "It's early in the season but we needed that game," he added.  Everything is magnified this early in the season, Gibbons noted, especially to a team that fell just short of making the World Series last year.  "We know we have a good ball club," Gibbons continued. "But with the enthusiasm that's running around here you want to at least get off to a decent start to keep that going. You don't want the naysayers to start jumping off that wagon."  "We don't want anyone panicking, that's for sure," he said with a smile.  Boston (3-2) could not make it three come-from-behind wins in a row as the Toronto bullpen, in the person of Drew Storen and Roberto Osuna, did its job. Osuna gave up a single but struck out three in the ninth for his third save.  Donaldson provided some late excitement with a booming blast to the second deck in left-centre field off Boston reliever Noe Ramirez to open the eighth. Eighteen of the Jays' 29 runs have been scored by the long ball this season, with nine home runs in seven games.  Estrada (1-0) outduelled Boston knuckleballer Steven Wright, who blanked the Jays for 5 2/3 innings after giving up two runs in the first.  Estrada shut down a Boston team that had scored 28 runs in its first four games, including 16 in the previous two in Toronto. Despite the sparkling performance, he said he has more to give.  "I felt pretty good. Still a little off. Things are going to get better," he said. "[I'm] not quite 100 per cent with a feel for things, but it's really close."  He has high standards after a 2015 that saw him go 13-8 with a 3.13 ERA with opposition batters hitting an AL-low .203.  On Sunday, Estrada struck out eight while limiting the Red Sox to five hits and two walks in an economical 91-pitch outing that featured 62 strikes.  "We ran into an outstanding pitching performance from Estrada here today," said Boston manager John Farrell. "A lot of strikes, first and foremost. But a well above-average changeup. Seemingly, you could almost sit on the changeup and it wouldn't get to home plate, kind of a Bugs Bunny type of changeup.  "He pitched a heck of a game against us. We've been swinging the bat well here and on this road trip, and he shut us down."  Estrada has now held the opposition to two earned runs or less in his last 10 starts at home.  It was a rare baseball weekend at the Rogers Centre with knuckleballers throwing both days — Dickey on Saturday and Wright on Sunday  Wright, whom the Jays faced in Montreal at the end of the pre-season, was roughed up in a 32-pitch first inning that saw two passed balls by catcher Blake Swihart. Two singles, a passed ball and a walk loaded the bases. Kevin Pillar scored on an Edwin Encarnacion groundout and Donaldson followed him when second baseman Dustin Pedroia's throw to first missed the target.  The Jays snuffed out a threat in the third when Jose Bautista and Ryan Goins combined to throw out Pedroia at the plate as he tried to score from first on Xander Bogaerts' double. Goins, positioned on the foul line midway between first base and the outfield wall, nailed home plate with a perfect throw after Bautista retrieved the ball in the right-field corner. Catcher Russell Martin did his part at the plate, twisting to make the tag.  "That was a huge play ... It pumped me up," said Estrada. "You see plays like that happen behind you and you want to give the boys even more."  Wright (0-1) settled down after the first and began to befuddle batters, including striking out Donaldson with a 64 m.p.h. curve ball in the third.  But after facing the minimum batters in the second and third, he loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth. A Darwin Barney groundout rescued the Red Sox.  Wright exited with two outs in the seventh. He gave up two runs (one unearned) on six hits with five strikeouts and three walks.  The Jays have an off day Monday before hosting the New York Yankees.
Marco Estrada pitched seven shutout innings, Josh Donaldson hit a solo home run and the Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 3-0 on Sunday, avoiding a three-game sweep.