Dylan Cease struck out 10 in seven innings Friday night and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the visiting Los Angeles Angels A2-0.

Cease (3-1) allowed five hits with no walks in the opener of a three-game series. It was Cease’s second win of the season over the Angels and it gave the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead in the season series. He struck out 12 in five innings on April 20 in Toronto’s 5-2 win at Anaheim.

Louis Varland pitched the ninth to earn his fifth save of the season and end Toronto’s four-game losing streak.

Toronto scored both runs in the third against left-hander Reid Detmers (1-3). George Springer led off with a single, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walked with one out and Kazuma Okamoto grounded an RBI single to center. Daulton Varsho walked and Ernie Clement hit a sacrifice fly to right.

Cease retired his first nine batters with five strikeouts before Zach Neto led off the fourth with a single, but Mike Trout grounded into a double play. Nolan Schanuel singled to second and took second on Clement’s throwing error. Jorge Soler grounded out to end the inning.

A walk and a catcher’s interference put two on with one out in the Toronto fourth. Detmers struck out Myles Straw with his 96th pitch before Jose Fermin replaced him and finished the inning on Guerrero’s lineout to shortstop.

Detmers allowed two runs, two hits and six walks while striking out three in 3 2/3 innings. He also lost to the Blue Jays on April 20.

The Angels’ first extra-base hit was Jo Adell’s double to center with two out in the seventh. Cease struck out Josh Lowe to end the inning.

Pinch hitter Vaughn Grissom led off the eighth against Jeff Hoffman with a double to left. Hoffman worked out of the inning with a groundout, a popup and a strikeout.

Former Blue Jay Alek Manoah pitched in the majors for the first time since May 29, 2024, when he worked the bottom of the eighth. He received a mixed reaction from the fans. Manoah, who had elbow surgery, tossed a perfect inning with one strikeout.

–Field Level Media

Alex Newhook posted his first two-goal postseason game for the Montreal Canadiens, who evened their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the host Buffalo Sabres on Friday thanks to a 5-1 victory in Game 2.

The Canadiens seized home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven set ahead of Game 3 in Montreal on Sunday.

Newhook now has three goals for the Habs this postseason, and Nick Suzuki added an empty-netter with 4:01 remaining to extend his goal-scoring streak to three games. Five of Montreal’s six defensemen got points as Mike Matheson and Alexandre Carrier netted their first playoff goals while Kaiden Guhle, Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson each registered an assist.

Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes rebounded from a subpar Game 1 performance, making 27 saves in the victory.

Zach Benson recorded his third playoff goal for the Sabres, with assists from Conor Timmins and Josh Doan.

Buffalo goaltender Alex Lyon endured his worst game of the playoffs as he gave up four goals on 27 shots.

The Canadiens needed just 96 seconds to take the lead with Newhook in the slot tipping Guhle’s shot past Lyon.

Less than three minutes later, Matheson doubled the Habs’ lead. Phillip Danault won the faceoff in the offensive zone and the puck went back to the defenseman, who found a lane and ripped a shot from the blue line that went in off the post.

Newhook, who entered Friday with just three goals in 40 Stanley Cup playoff games, netted his second of the night with 15:13 left in the second period. On a 2-on-2 with Evans, Newhook found a way to get past Rasmus Dahlin and beat Lyon, who could not glide back before the puck got to Newhook.

Buffalo managed to score in the final minute of the second, with Benson at the post to redirect Timmins shot from the right circle.

The Canadiens regained momentum less than four minutes into the third with Carrier getting the puck in the defensive zone off a Tage Thompson turnover and converting it into an unassisted goal that secured the victory.

–Field Level Media

A pair of solo home runs stood up as Connelly Early pitched a career-high seven shutout innings, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 2-0 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.

Wilyer Abreu’s two-out blast in the third was all that Boston needed, but Ceddanne Rafaela (2-for-4) added a homer of his own in the next inning for good measure.

Early (3-2) fanned eight while allowing just four hits and one walk on the way to his first scoreless start of the season. Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman followed the southpaw with scoreless innings, preserving Boston’s MLB-leading sixth shutout of the season.

Nick Fortes (2-for-3) had two of the four hits for Tampa Bay, which was blanked for the first time this season and had a seven-game win streak snapped.

After allowing just one base hit through the first two innings, Early escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam with a strikeout and a 5-4-3 double play to end the third without any damage done. Back-to-back hits by Nick Fortes and Taylor Walls had started the frame.

The Red Sox went without a hit for the first 3 2/3 innings against Jesse Scholtens (3-2) — a primary reliever who completed 4 2/3 in his second start of the season — before breaking up the shutout bid with one swing. With two outs in the third, Abreu crushed a solo job over the bullpens in right-center field.

Rafaela joined the action an inning later, giving Boston a 2-0 lead with a line-drive shot over the Green Monster in left.

Early was dominant following the Rays’ big threat, allowing only one base hit — a Fortes single with one out in the fifth — through the remainder of his outing. After Fortes’ second knock, the southpaw bounced back to strike out back-to-back batters and the side.

Though the Red Sox were unable to extend their lead and logged just two hits themselves after scoring in the fourth, Early punctuated the night with a looking strikeout of Fortes in the seventh.

With Chapman on to close, third baseman Caleb Durbin made a diving stop to help retire Junior Caminero in a 1-2-3 ninth with two punchouts. Chapman earned his eighth save.

–Field Level Media